Sins of the Reapers
by Palladius
Summary: On April 5, 2185, twelve year old Garrus Vakarian was pulled from a burning dreadnought by Colonel Urdnot Wrex of the TEC Ascension Corps. The adventure that follows will herald the eventual doom of the Reapers at the hands of the Trader Emergency Coalition. AU Reaper War, Sins of a Solar Empire crossover.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: And now for something completely different. Possible one-shot but may continue depending on interest. AU Mass Effect/Sins of a Solar Empire crossover.

CADMUS VAKARIAN, PALAVEN'S SHIELD, APRIL 5 2185

It was fair to say that Chief Gunnery Officer Cadmus Vakarian was having a very bad day. The Reapers had his dreadnought cornered, their FTL drives crippled and their kinetic barriers utterly useless against the Thanix weapons of the invading synthetics. How stupid the Council had been, to have ignored the warnings of that Asari archaeologist, Liara T'Soni, initially dismissed as insane and now, if she was still in one piece, probably engaging in the most epic bout of I Told You So ever seen by the galaxy.

The galaxy really was going down the can. First the Reapers showed up, pouring through the Citadel relay and instantly decapitating the combined fleets. Forced to fend for themselves, each race was isolated by the Reapers to be crushed sequentially with overwhelming force. Desperate attempts had been made to present something of a unified resistance to the Reapers, but the Turian envoys had come back with steadily more and more disturbing news.

The Batarians had been utterly obliterated by the Reaper onslaught, to the point where they were tentatively declared an endangered species, with estimates showing that at most 100,000 individuals remained alive and non-indoctrinated.

The Asari were faring worse than the Turians, their usual tactics of hit and run rendered ineffective by the numbers, speed and durability of their Reaper foes. Thessia was being depopulated rapidly, thousands upon thousands of Husks being created by the synthetics.

The Reapers weren't even bothering to land on Sur'Kesh, Kahje and Irune, instead content to bomb the Salarians, Volus and Hanar into oblivion. The Elcor thus far hadn't been hit but it was only a matter of time.

The most disturbing was possibly the fate of the Krogan, the Quarians and the Geth. They were gone. As in, disappeared into thin air. The scouts returned from Tuchanka with holos of abandoned Krogan camps, supplies and arms stockpiles vanished with their owners. Scouts that had ventured beyond the Perseus Veil had reported that Geth space was completely empty, all ships gone, any static installations destroyed, and of the Migrant Fleet there had been no sign in almost two years.

His attention was drawn to the small holo he kept on his console. His wife, Carissa, smiling for the camera, her Vakarian blue paint freshly applied and cradling baby Solana, his son Garrus standing beside her with a slightly goofy grin on his face as Solana gripped one of his talons. Yes, he reflected, he had a damn fine family, a family currently cowering in the dreadnought's cargo bay, the refugee extraction mission gone horribly, horribly wrong. If he had to die now, at least he had a good life behind him. But it wasn't fair. Garrus was twelve, Solana six. Why did they have to die?

He looked out of the window at the Reaper, its firing chamber already glowing red, and closed his eyes as the beam stabbed out, silent in the vacuum of space.

Carissa, I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect you, couldn't protect our children.

It took him a good five seconds to realise he was still alive. Then three things happened at once.

The Reaper started blindly flailing, turning in twisty, erratic courses.

The clunk of docking shuttles resounded throughout the dreadnought.

And ethereal, alien music filled his head.

URDNOT WREX, PALAVEN'S SHIELD, APRIL 5 2185

The Turians were definitely not expecting the white-armoured Krogan to be in the shuttles that had just forcibly docked themselves onto the Palaven's Shield, in some cases boring holes in the hull to gain access. He stormed onto the ship, winding up in the main cargo bay, and bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"Turians! Get your asses in gear! Onto the shuttles, children first, move!"

The authority in his voice started them into motion, forming an orderly group as the children, along with their mothers, were gently urged into the nearest shuttle. As they were boarding the entire ship shuddered as the engine core finally gave up, causing a series of small explosions to shoot along its spine.

"Dammit! Evac teams, comb the ship! I want your asses back here a full minute before the blinding-song ends! Move!"

With that, he thundered off in search of more idiotic Turians to pull off their pathetic excuse for a dreadnought.

Before long, his headlong sprint through empty corridors brought him face to face with a very startled twelve year old Turian boy.

"What's your name, kid?"

He managed to stammer out a reply.

"G...Garrus Vakarian, sir."

"Where are you going, Garrus?"

"To get my father, sir. He's the chief gunnery officer."

"Chief gunnery officer? He sounds important. Come on, let's go get him. Which way?"

He points one clawed digit.

"That way."

"Alright then."

Without further ado he plucked the boy off the ground and settled him on his hump before sprinting through the corridor.

Eventually he came to a heavy bulkhead, sealed and secure. Theoretically the bulkhead should be able to withstand a concerted pummelling from a Krogan, but Urdnot Wrex was no ordinary Krogan. When his species had left that wasted chunk of rock Tuchanka behind they had discovered gene mods. Now Wrex, and all his species, could regenerate five times faster than a normal, unaugmented Krogan, his muscle fibres were far denser, greatly boosting his strength, speed and endurance, and his biotics were far stronger thanks to a mod that replaced his eezo nodules with a spread of eezo grains in every single one of his mitochondria, whatever the hell a mitochondria was. So when he aimed a biotically charged shoulder barge at the bulkhead it really didn't stand a chance.

The Turians in the gunnery control centre turned around, startled as an enormous armoured Krogan barged through the door. Then ...

"Dad!"

Garrus jumped off his back and ran over to who he assumed to be his father.

"Get hustling, Turians. We can't keep that Reaper blind forever."

"Who the hell are you?"

He grinned behind his helm.

"Colonel Urdnot Wrex, TEC Marines, Ascension programme. Now that Reaper is going to get its shit back together in less than five minutes so let's get a fucking move on!"

Garrus tugged at his father's hand.

"Come on, Dad. Mum and Sol are already on their ship."

The five Turians in the gunnery control centre look at Wrex.

"Lead the way, Colonel."

GARRUS VAKARIAN, PALAVEN'S SHIELD, APRIL 5 2185

Garrus had no idea what was going on. He had fully understood the situation - they were going to die at the hands? claws? tentacles? whatever of the Reapers. He had understood right up until white armoured Krogan had shown up like guardian spirits and started hauling people onto their shuttles, and that strange alien music had started playing in his head. He had run off to find Dad, ask him what was happening, but then he had been found by Colonel Wrex. For a moment there he thought the enormous Krogan was going to kill him but then he had spoke to Garrus, helped him find Dad. And now Wrex was helping Dad and his crew get away from the Reaper, despite all the horror stories he had been told about Krogan in his childhood.

He noticed he was starting to fall behind of the sprinting Turians so he put on some extra speed, but before he caught up he felt himself get yanked off the ground and moments later he was settled on the Krogan's neck, his back resting on the armoured hump.

"Okay, kid. I want you to keep a lookout for me. If you see anyone who might get left behind, you shout for them to follow me, got that?"

"Yes sir!"

He noticed that Wrex's voice was perfectly calm and level despite the fact that he was sprinting full tilt through the corridors of a dying dreadnought.

There was a bright flash and before Garrus knew what was happening his dad spun around and was slammed back against the wall, a support beam speared through his shoulder.

"Dad!"

The rest of the gunnery crew stopped and turned back and Wrex waved an arm at them.

"Go! Get to the cargo bay! I'll haul the Chief's sorry ass out of this one!"

After a brief moment of hesitation the gunnery crew sprinted towards the cargo bay and Wrex turned his attention to the impaled Turian, activating what looked like a blue version of an Omnitool and waving it over the support beam.

"Siri, how far into the wall does the support beam penetrate?"

A strange voice that sounded like a very masculine Asari spoke up from the Omnitool.

"About one metre, Wrex."

At this the Krogan growled.

"Siri, open the iBlade app."

"Yes, Wrex."

A sixty centimetre glowing blue blade appeared out of his Omnitool thing and he swung it, neatly slicing through the support beam about five centimetres past Dad's shoulder and then again just five centimetres past the opposite wall. The section of support beam dropped to the floor with a clang and Wrex slowly slid Dad off the beam, drawing a cry of pain from him and an answering cry from Garrus.

"Don't worry kid, we'll take good care of your dad. Siri, open the iMed Dextro app."

Wrex used his Omnitool to spread a thick blue gel substance over the wound on both sides.

"There we go. That'll keep you alive until we can get you into a tissue regenerator."

And with that, Wrex scooped up the groaning Turian man and thundered off towards the shuttle.

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, TON KARAMAZOV, APRIL 5 2185

The last shuttle was just departing as Tali watched the proceedings from the window of the Akkan-class battlecruiser TON Karamazov. The Akkan-class was designed to carry a full civilian population in case the worst happened and they needed to flee and rebuild their civilisation in an unknown corner of the galaxy, but the civilian population was always a concern when in a combat situation. At three kilometres end to end, an Akkan physically dwarfed a Reaper but that didn't mean it was the match of one in combat. Designed for speed over defences, the Akkan relied primarily on deflectors and energy shields for durability and since Reaper Thanix beams couldn't be mitigated by the deflectors that left the energy shield as the only form of defence available to the battlecruiser. Their only offensive weapons were two fighter squadrons, a handful of light autocannons and a few Geth plasma turrets. They could handle destroyers in combat, but nothing like the blinded, stumbling Reaper currently wandering around wondering what was going on out there.

Tali curled her hand around her best friend's as the last boarding shuttle finally docked and the Captain gave the order to, as her friend so aptly put it, GTFO. Her friend squeezed her hand in return and looked out at the starscape as it shifted, pointing their ass towards the fumbling Reaper as the phase engines charged. Ash really was a great friend. She was thirteen to Tali's twelve and always knew how to take care of her. Two years ago she had never even heard of this strange new species, these Humans, but the kindness they had shown to the Migrant Fleet when they integrated them into their government, the Trader Emergency Coalition, was amazing. And the tech! Even at the age of eleven, she was a massive tech-head and the fact that the TEC used tech she had absolutely no clue where to start with was no hindrance at all. In fact, she threw herself into her studies of TEC engines, weapons and shields with gusto.

She felt someone grab her from behind and lift her into the air with a big, booming laugh and she turned around in his grasp, squealing happily.

"Uncle Wrex!"

The Krogan Battlemaster put her down before ruffling Ash's hair.

"How're my two favourite girls doing?"

It was then that Tali noticed the Turian boy peeking out from behind the Krogan.

"Who's that, Uncle?"

Wrex put an enormous hand on the boy's back, propelling him forwards.

"This is Garrus. Garrus, this is Ashley and Tali. They'll keep you company while I go and find the rest of your family. Won't you?"

Tali nodded enthusiastically, her black bangs flopping down over her face as Ash also nodded, though slightly more reluctantly.

"Hey Garrus. Want to come play zero-G?"

He briefly frowned.

"What's zero-G?"

"Come on, you'll love it."

As Tali jabbered excitedly to Garrus about zero-G, Ash opened up her iTool and sent a message.

From: ASH

To: KAIDAN, JACOB, JAMES, THANE, KAZIMIR, KARINA, MORDIN, KASUMI, JACK

Hey, you guys want to come play zero-G? We've got a new player, a Turian guy called Garrus, so we've got even teams again.

-Ash W.

Moments later she received nine replies in the affirmative. Time to show this Turian kid what kids in the TEC do for fun.

KARINA SHEPARD, TON KARAMAZOV, APRIL 5 2185

Karina was one of the first to the Zero-G arena, along with her twin brother Kazimir. The two of them were both tapped for the Sigma programme just like their parents and so the gene mods had already started for them, making them bigger, stronger and faster than all their friends. Of their friends, they weren't the only ones marked out for a supersoldier program - Tali, Ash and James were also on the list for the prestigious Sigma programme, Ash having just started her course of gene mods, James and Tali waiting for their thirteenth birthdays before starting their own mods. Thane and Kasumi were both slated for the N7 programme and Jack, Kaidan and Jacob were all in for the Ascension programme. Thinking about it, Mordin was the only one of their friend group that wasn't in for a supersoldier programme but everyone knew he was headed for a high end military research posting for TEC Command. That left the only outstanding one being the new Turian kid, but perhaps he'd get in on one too, as soon as the research corps finished cooking up their Turian gene mods.

She looked up as Tali entered the room, jabbering about the rules of Zero-G to an utterly bemused looking Turian. Kazimir stepped up to him and offered his hand.

"Kazimir Shepard. That's my twin, Karina."

The Turian kid looks suspiciously at the hand for a moment before shaking it.

"Garrus Vakarian."

At almost six foot six, Kazimir towered over Garrus, who apparently was used to being one of the tallest kids in the class. Karina got up to shake his hand, easily matching her brother in height.

"Before we go play Zero Gee or whatever, would you mind telling me exactly what's going on? One minute I'm on a dreadnought about to be obliterated by a Reaper, and the next ..."

He waves his arms, valiantly trying to encompass the Karamazov and her crew in one gesture.

"Spirits, I don't even know what species you are!"

Karina chuckled and gestured at the seat next to her.

"Take a seat, Garrus. We've got a lot to talk about."

URDNOT WREX, TON KARAMAZOV, APRIL 5 2185

Wrex forged a path through the Turian refugees milling around in the Karamazov's cargo bay.

"Anyone know where I can find Carissa Vakarian?"

After about the fifth time hollering, a female Turian towing a small child approached him.

"That's me. What do you want?"

"I have some news about your husband and son."

The suspicious cast of her face instantly dissipates, replaced by one of pure dread.

"Cadmus? Garrus? Are they ..."

"They're both alive and on board. Cadmus took a bad hit on the Shield and he's currently getting very bored sitting in a tissue regenerator, and I left Garrus with my nieces Ashley and Tali."

The tension seems to drain out of her form and she slumps in relief.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Follow me, I'll take you to them."

Carissa fell into step beside him, beady eyes roving over his white armour with the insignia on his shoulders.

"Mummy, who that?"

"That's a friendly man who's taking us to see Daddy and Garrus."

"He big."

Wrex turned and picked up Solana, settling her on his shoulders. Carissa smiled as she grabbed onto his crest and cackled gleefully.

"Wheeeee!"

"So what do these symbols mean?"

Wrex glanced down at the black triangle on his shoulders with the two gold pips below it.

"Colonel, Ascension corps. One of the TEC's three supersoldier programmes."

The female Turian frowned slightly.

"Supersoldiers?"

"Yeah. We have the Sigma programme, the N7 programme and the Ascension programme. Ah, here we are."

As the door opened, Solana calls out.

"Daddy!"

Wrex bent down, allowing the little girl to scramble off his hump and leap onto her father.

"Daddy Daddy Daddy!"

"Hey Sol." He grunts. "Be careful. Daddy got hurt."

The little Turian's face fell into a picture of dismay.

"Daddy hurt?"

He gave her a one armed hug.

"Yes, but its okay. Colonel Wrex over there brought me back to this ship and now that machine is making it better."

"Okay Daddy. Wrex nice!"

Carissa sat down beside him and took his hand, her expression giddy with relief.

"I'd better go find out what my nieces did with Garrus."

He ducked out of the room, unable to stop a grin from spreading across his face. What is it about little kids that never fails to turn me into goop? he thought.

THANE KRIOS, TON KARAMAZOV, APRIL 5 2185

"Amonkira, Lord of Hunters, grant that my hands be steady, my aim true and my feet swift. And if the worst comes to pass, grant me forgiveness."

"Jeez Thane, it's just a Zero-G game. You're not going to die."

Thane looked up at Jacob, Kaidan and James and grinned.

"Like Major Massani always says."

The four boys exchanged a snigger as they recited in unison, putting on a gruff voice.

"It's like a condom. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."

Thane stood up and clapped his friends on the shoulders.

"Come on. We've got a Zero-G match to win."

The four of them glance out through their gate, the three metre by three metre square inviting them to take the plunge into the spherical Zero-G arena.

"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."

Whenever they played Zero-G, Ender's Game references came thick and fast. Jacob cuffed Kaidan round the back of the head.

"Be original for once in your life."

Then the four of them lined up beside the gate and Kaidan started briefing them.

"Okay. As soon as we're out, Jacob cover the gate. I'll split for Kazimir's gate, James go for Karina's gate and Thane go for the javelin. Ready?"

The gate light buzzed green and the four of them hurled themselves out into the Zero-G chamber.

Zero-G took place between three equal teams in a gravityless spherical chamber. The objective was to hurl a javelin through the enemy's gate whilst simultaneously preventing the javelin from going near your gate. Since they were just playing casually they were using a lightweight aluminium javelin with rubber ends but professional players used a sharp-ended lead javelin and consequently needed to wear energy shields to play. As the two N7 candidates in the room, Thane and Kasumi were easily the most adept at zero-G manoeuvring and so had been elected to go for the javelin in the centre of the room. To his surprise Kazimir had elected to send the new kid, Garrus, at the javelin.

Thane and Kasumi got to the javelin at almost exactly the same time, briefly wrestling each other for it before Garrus hit them with the force of an express train, not bothering to check his momentum as he slammed the three of them along with the javelin towards one of the walls highly rapidly. Unwilling to get crushed between the hard metal wall and an over aggressive Turian, Kasumi broke off, kicking towards the wall a little way away. Garrus flipped the javelin end for end, using his superior strength to knock Thane away. Then moments later he hit the wall, springing off again in the direction of Karina's gate. To everyone's surprise it was Kaidan's gate that buzzed and flashed red, indicating the javelin had passed through that gate.

The twelve of them all heard slow applause as Wrex casually drifted out from Karina's gate.

"Damn kid, those were some moves you pulled there. You'd make a fine Sigma."

It took Garrus a couple of seconds to realise the sound he was hearing was everyone chanting his name.

"Garrus, Garrus, Garrus ..."

"Come on kid. Your mother and sister are waiting in the medbay for you."

Karina drifts over to him.

"Let's all go see them. I'd like to meet your family anyway."

They all drift into Karina's gate. As they are about to head up to the medbay Wrex straps something to Garrus's wrist.

"What is this?"

"It's an iTool. Welcome to the TEC, kid."

RAEL'ZORAH VAS KARAMAZOV, TON KARAMAZOV, APRIL 9 2185

"Dad, can I ask you a question?"

Rael ran a hand through his messy black hair, a habit he had fallen into after the Quarians finally got rid of their suits two years ago upon their induction into the TEC.

"Of course, Tali."

"How do you tell when a boy likes you?"

Rael almost choked on his pasta. He had always thought twelve was a bit young to have The Talk but after spending so much time around Humans these past two years he supposed some of it was rubbing off on her. Based on his observations there wouldn't be much more than hand holding and going to movies together until she was a little older, at least. He didn't exactly relish the prospect of his little girl growing up but it was inevitable.

"Well ..."

He wasn't really sure.

"If a boy likes you ..."

Um. What to say?

"Well ..."

Son of a bosh'tet! Think, Rael!

"If a boy likes you then he'll treat you with respect. He'll always want to do things that you like doing, and he'll take good care of you if you're sad or hurt."

Tali frowned briefly, then nodded.

"Okay, Dad."

She took another mouthful of pasta.

"Would this boy by any chance be Kazimir Shepard?"

Now it was her turn to splutter on her pasta.

"Dad!"

He grinned at her cheekily.

"Just asking."

"Um ... Maybe?"

Rael nodded and smiled.

"He's a nice boy. I'm glad it's him, not that awful James kid he hangs around with."

"Dad! You're just saying that because you don't like Zaeed."

The animosity between Rael'Zorah vas Karamazov and James's adoptive father, Sigma Major Zaeed Massani, was legendary.

"The boy's coarse, brutish and vulgar just like his dad."

"Yes, sometimes he can be a bit, well, rude, but he's a really nice person if you get to know him."

Rael frowned, but didn't pursue the subject. Tali was usually quite a good judge of character, as shown by her instant dislike for Henry Lawson's stuck up daughter, so perhaps she was right about James.

"So, what have you been up to recently?"

As the captain of the Karamazov, Rael was a very busy man and as a result didn't have nearly enough time to spend with his daughter as he would like. He had secret hopes that one day she would be a battlecruiser captain just like him, but he was nevertheless proud when she was accepted for the Sigma programme on her eleventh birthday. Even if it meant she might one day serve under that son of a bitch Massani.

"Uncle Wrex introduced us to this new person they pulled off that Turian ship called Garrus. I think Wrex is going to tag him for the Sigma programme like me."

"That's a bit quick, isn't it? We're not even back in TEC space yet."

"I know, but you should have seen some of his moves in the Zero-G ring. He managed to out-grapple Thane, of all people."

"That's Krios's boy, right? The N7 candidate?"

"Yeah, him."

"Do you have any plans this evening?"

"Movie night in the Shepards's cabin, remember?"

"How could I forget? I need to get back to the bridge in half an hour anyway. Just enough time for a shower."

"Shotgun first!"

He sighed, and grabbed Tali just long enough to plant a kiss on the top of her head as she ran past. He really needed to make more time to spend with his daughter.

CADMUS VAKARIAN, TON KARAMAZOV, APRIL 10 2185

When Cadmus came into his cabin he was surprised to see Colonel Wrex sitting at the table along with Garrus and Carissa.

"Ah, Cadmus. Have a seat."

He looked askance at Garrus as he sat down.

"What's this about?"

"Well now you're all here I'll tell you. As you all know, all children in the TEC go through three years of military training when they reach the age of fifteen, which is compulsory, similar to your Turian boot camp if I'm not mistaken. What you may or may not know is that certain candidates that show promise at an early age can be invited to join one of three programmes. When we entered your son's details into his citizen's registry he was flagged as a potential Sigma recruit."

At this, Garrus's jaw drops and his mandibles hang slack in amazement.

"You're serious?"

"Completely."

"Oh wow! This is ... I mean ... Wow!"

Cadmus frowns.

"What does this Sigma programme entail?"

Wrex glances at his iTool before answering.

"Sigmas recieve extensive genetic modification that greatly increases their speed, strength, stamina, agility, reflexes and visual acuity, and are trained in all forms of weaponry as well as advanced hand to hand combat, marksmanship and the use of advanced battlefield tactics including counter-biotics and ship boarding operations. At the end of the program a typical Sigma is equal to twenty of our regular military academy graduates. Sigma training takes seven years and commences on the intake year after an individual turns fifteen. Sigmas, along with our other two programmes, Ascension and N7, get the most prestigious postings and operations and, statistically speaking, have a three hundred percent higher mission success rate than mil academy soldiers and a two hundred percent lower mortality rate, despite the fact that their missions are far riskier."

All three Turians are gaping at Wrex now.

"I won't pander around. Sigma training is the hardest seven years of your life, but even being short listed for the Sigma programme is a great honour. We don't need a decision until your thirteenth birthday. If you have any questions about the programme, you should look for Major Zaeed Massani. He's the highest ranking Sigma currently on the ship. I think you've already met his adopted son, James Vega-Massani, and his adopted daughter Jack Massani. And remember kid, this is your decision and yours alone. Your family and friends can offer you advice but nobody has the right to make your decision except you. If you decide either way drop me a message by iTool."

Cadmus watched the enormous Battlemaster leave, then turned to Garrus.

"What do you think, son? Your thirteenth is twelve days away so you don't have very long to decide."

"I ... I dunno. I think I want to, but I'm not sure."

"Well, it's good you're thinking about it instead of just blindly leaping. Do you want to go and speak to this Zaeed guy?"

ZAEED MASSANI, TON KARAMAZOV, APRIL 10 2185

When Zaeed got back from his jog, he found two Turians waiting for him outside his cabin.

"Whassup?"

They blinked, startled by his appearance.

"Are you Major Zaeed Massani?"

"So what if I am?"

The older Turian clears his throat.

"My son Garrus has been selected for the Sigma programme and has some questions."

"Sigma, eh? Come inside, we'll talk."

He keyed open the door and gestured the two of them inside before sprawling on an armchair. Garrus and his father sat down on an old beat up sofa.

"I'd offer you drinks but I ain't got anything dextro."

The thunder of feet heralded the arrival of two Human children, James and Jack. Zaeed looked at them with pride as they flopped down on the opposite sofa.

"My brats, James and Jack. Proudest two damn days of my life when he got into Sigma and she got into Ascension. So, what do you want to know?"

Before Garrus can say anything, James piped up.

"You got into Sigma too? That is so cool!"

Garrus thinks about it.

"Who else is a Sigma candidate aboard the ship?"

Zaeed scratched the back of his neck as he thought about it for a second.

"Think you met all them already. There's James here, the Shepard twins, that Zorah kid and her buddy Williams, and you make six. Congrats, by the way."

"How'd your face get messed up?"

The older Turian immediately turned to scold Garrus but Zaeed, James and Jack all started chuckling.

"You know, of all the kids who ever asked me that, you're the most goddamn direct. You'd make a damn fine Sigma, kid. Funny story actually. Me and my buddy Vido were pretty much the original supersoldiers. I was the first Sigma, he was the first Blue Sun. So anyway, the damn Blue Sun programme was a catastrophic fuck up right from the start. They all went goddamn insane and Vido got six of his buddies to hold me down while he shot me in the face. If I hadnt'a been Sigma I would be six feet under right now instead of sitting here discussing it with you. So anyhow he shot me in the face and I played dead till his buddies let me go, then I jumped up and killed his buddies with my bare hands. See, Sigmas can regen faster than a Krogan, so one bullet didn't do much more than mess up my beautiful face. Then it was just me and Vido left, and the crazy son of a bitch had a goddamn flamethrower, which ain't too healthy even for a Sigma. I pretty much spent the next minute or so jumpin' about trying not to get incinerated till he ran out of fuel for his fire squirter, then I jumped on his back and gave him a Massani Haircut."

"What's a Massani Haircut?"

Jack filled in the details enthusiastically.

"Dad grabbed him by the chin with one hand, top of the head with the other, twist 360 degrees and pull."

She mimed the action, straddling an invisible person, grabbing, twisting and pulling.

"My dad's fucking badass."

JACK MASSANI, TON KARAMAZOV, APRIL 12 2185

"What is it now, Jack?"

Kaidan eyed her warily as she stormed in, fists clenched and muttering darkly under her breath.

"Why in hell does my dad have to be so pally with Henry Lawson?"

He put his head in his hands and sighed.

"Miranda again?"

"I fucking hate that bitch! Little Miss Perfect. Goddamnit!"

Jacob shook his head, nonchalantly leaning against the window.

"Come on, she's not that bad."

"Not that fucking bad! She spends her entire time waltzing around in that tight fucking full body condom thing wanting guys to check out her ass!"

Jacob sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Okay, she's a bit of an exhibitionist but that doesn't constitute a reason to hate her."

The door slid open and Kazimir and Karina Shepard walked through the doors, closely followed by Tali and Garrus.

"What's going on?"

Kaidan sighed again and glanced up at them.

"Jack vs. Miranda, round seventeen million."

"Oh, whoopy doo. Garrus, I don't think you've been introduced to Bitchy McThunderthighs, the leader of the Ascension Programme Cheerleader Squad?"

Garrus looked at Kazimir in confusion as everyone else sniggered.

"Keelah, she's such a bosh'tet. I don't know why nobody's turned her head into nutrient paste yet."

Karina chuckled and nodded to Tali.

"Can you imagine the poor son of a bitch who gets Miranda's head in his field rations?"

The room erupted into laughter.

"Now that would be something to see."

Jacob shook his head again.

"Come on, she's not that bad. Just get to know her, you'll see."

Jack let out a short bark of derisive laughter.

"Fuck that Jacob. The only reason you give her the time of day is because your dad had his tongue up her dad's ass since you were two."

The room went silent.

"Sorry Jacob. That was too far."

He blinked and dissipated the faint biotic field around his arms.

"Apology accepted. How about we talk about something else now?"

Karina nodded and propelled Garrus forwards.

"Our newest buddy has some news he'd like to share."

Garrus grinned and proudly gestured to the white shirt he was wearing with the Sigma logo on the chest. Jacob and Kaidan immediately got up and went over to slap his shoulder.

"Hey, Sigma! Alright!"

"Congrats, man!"

Garrus nodded cheerfully.

"Yeah, and my thirteenth is in ten days."

Once again the room went silent. Eventually Jack piped up.

"Well why the fuck didn't you say anything about it? We've got a party to plan!"

RAEL'ZORAH VAS KARAMAZOV, TON KARAMAZOV, APRIL 17 2185

"All systems check. Phase fluctuation within optimal parameters. Prep for realspace transition in five minutes."

The Geth unit in question turned its eyepiece back to Rael.

"Thank you, XO Legion."

He tapped a button on the arm of his command chair.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We will be arriving in the Sol system in approximately four and a half minutes. Thank you for travelling with Karamazov Spaceways. Welcome home. All hands, prepare for realspace flight."

He turned his attention to the view out of the bridge, looking out over the technician pits on the lower level of the bridge and into the strange flickering purple of interstellar phase space flight.

"XO, polarise all windows."

"All windows polarised, Captain Zorah."

"Helmsman, prepare to lay in a course for Earth starbase."

"Preparing course, Captain Zorah."

"Engineering?"

-We sing readiness-songs, Sings-Commands.-

Keelah, having a Rachni chief engineer was weird. But then again, Sings-to-Metal-Wings was one of the best engineers he'd ever encountered, his own dearly departed wife included.

"Thank you, Chief Engineer."

Two years ago if somebody had told him he'd be the captain of a three kilometre long battlecruiser with a Geth XO and a Rachni Chief Engineer he would have tested them for hallucinogenics. It's funny how quickly things could change. The Migrant Fleet had been blindsided by the Reapers, losing almost a thousand ships, including one of the Liveships, before the TEC had shown up. They had lost twelve capital ships and literally hundreds of cruisers and frigates but they had bought time for the Migrant Fleet to escape the ambush by towing them into their own bizarre version of FTL called Phase Space. Every Quarian alive today owed the TEC their lives, and they started to repay that debt by becoming some of the most valued of the TEC's subjects. Despite the physical fragility of an unaugmented Quarian, a higher proportion of them were accepted into the Sigma and N7 programmes than any other of the TEC's many races, and Quarian engineers and captains had donated their old, battered ships to be broken down into resources, in turn becoming captains and engineers of Javelis LRM Frigates, Kodiak Heavy Cruisers or Kol Battleships. For the first time in his life, Rael had felt glad to be a Quarian. And then, as if it was nothing more than an afterthought, the TEC had given them a little yellow pill that fixed their immune systems.

"One minute to realspace transition, Captain."

"Thank you, XO."

Ah yes, the Geth. Now that was a sticky one. The TEC had brought them in about a month after saving the Migrant Fleet. The first Rael had heard about it was when a Geth platform showed up with a crew transfer, claiming to be his new XO. After the new Sigma transfer, Major Zaeed Massani, had got him to, in his own words, "put the goddamn gun down and let the Geth on the ship, ya crazy bastard," he had very grudgingly permitted the Geth on the bridge. Things had been incredibly tense for the first month or so before he and the Quarians on the bridge crew had started to relax around Legion, but it had taken almost a full year and an awful lot of vitriol from Zaeed Goddamn Massani before they had finally fully relaxed around the platform.

"Thirty seconds to realspace transition."

"Broadcast the IFF. I have no interest in being phase locked today."

The first line of Sol's defences was the Stasis Net, a network of phasic inhibitors around the system that would essentially put any ship that arrived in the system without broadcasting the correct IFF in a kind of stasis effect. They had run into the stasis net when the Migrant Fleet was brought back to Sol - the entire fleet was put into stasis, and since the stasis net physically couldn't be deactivated the Quarians had to wait for the stasis to wear off before they could move again. Which took seven hours.

-We sing identity-songs to the sleep-singer net, Sings-Commands.-

Ah yes. The Rachni. Now there was an interesting one. The Rachni were effectively the reason the TEC existed. A single queen fled the end of the Rachni Wars, eventually coming to settle on the planet Venus. First contact between the Humans and the Rachni had occurred in the Human year 1976, and together they had built the Trade Order, the joint Human-Rachni mercantile empire that had been reformed into the TEC during the Advent Wars of the 2130s and 40s. Every capital ship in the fleet had a Rachni Queen aboard, who was able to sing what they called 'blinding-songs' to the Reapers, essentially scrambling their ability to interpret sensor input. Regrettably, however, firing at a blinded Reaper always seemed to make it snap out of the blinding-song, meaning it was most useful during snatch and grab raids like the evacuation of the Palaven's Shield.

"Realspace transition in five ... four ... three ... two ... one ... Now."

The purple ripples of interstellar phase travel disappeared, replaced by a very close view of the star Sol. Good thing Rael had polarised the viewscreen.

"Welcome back TON Karamazov. Please proceed immediately to dock C17 for refugee transfer and resupply."

Rael tapped the reply button.

"Solid copy, setting heading for dock C17. Nice to be back, Earth Control. Request permission to comb refugees for crew replacements. My gunnery chief is going on maternity leave."

"Solid copy, Karamazov. Permission granted. Earth Control out."

Rael smiled and leaned back. Tali had mentioned her new friend's father was the CGO of that Turian dreadnought. Perhaps he could stay on. But he'd deal with that later.

"Any plans for shore leave, Captain Zorah?"

"Mm, yes. I'm taking my daughter to the beach. And you, XO?"

"We have purchased tickets for an exclusive exhibition of the Human painter Van Gogh."

"Van Gogh? I've heard good things about ... Wait, how many tickets?"

Legion's headflaps shifted ever so slightly.

"One thousand one hundred and eighty seven."

Rael put one hand over his face as his shoulders shook with silent laughter.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Please review and tell me what you think, who'd you like to see more/less of, etc.

CADMUS VAKARIAN, EARTH STARBASE, MAY 12 2185

"Oculus squadron approaching on left flank."

So far, so good. Resistance wasn't all that bad.

"Tasking autocannon turrets 10 and 12 to eliminate."

The two turrets in question updated their statuses with little chirps on his display, each one expending about two hundred solid osmium shells on the tiny fighter drones.

"Confirmed destruction of Oculus squadron."

"Copy that."

The turrets slowly replenished their munitions stock from the ship's internal munitions carousel as the active sensors swept for contacts.

"Contact! Incoming Reaper destroyer!"

"Solid copy. Prep plasma cannon turrets 1, 3 and 5 for engagement. As soon as the firing chamber opens I want an ion bolt on that thing, then immediate fire on the beam primer."

"Copy that, Chief. Turrets 1, 3 and 5 standing by. Ion cannon reports ready."

A few tense seconds passed as Cadmus anxiously fiddled with his mandible.

"Firing chamber opening!"

"Execute!"

The ion bolt lanced out, momentarily paralysing the destroyer. The effect of the ion bolt lasted for exactly seven seconds, but seven seconds of fire from three capital-class Geth plasma cannon turrets was more than enough. The superheated bolts ripped through the firing chamber and into the drive core, detonating it and shattering the destroyer in a blue flash.

"Chief! Two more destroyers approaching!"

Now things were getting interesting.

"Prep all portside plasma turrets for immediate fire. First sucker to open up, I want ions on it."

"Chief, gunnery reports power surge in the ion cannon. It's out of commission."

Fuck, that just isn't fair.

"Alright, change of plans. Focus all fire on contact rumba delta two. Time for the boys down in the energy shielding department to earn their pay."

"Copy that, Chief. All turrets firing on rumba delta two."

It took the combined fire of the plasma turrets a good twenty seconds to disable the destroyer, during which time its buddy landed two beam strikes on the Karamazov's energy shield.

"Shielding at ninety per cent, Chief."

"Copy that. Switch fire to rumba delta three."

"Sir, turrets three and seven report serious overheating."

Agh! Spirits damn it!

"Tell them to close up and vent as quick as they can."

"Alert! New contact detected, capital class. Range two thousand and closing."

"Copy that. Keep hammering the destroyer and tell the captain we need to hustle. We don't have the juice to play with the big boys."

"Solid copy. Three back online. Seven report they are experiencing some problems with their heat sink."

"Get technicians to seven immediately."

"Contact rumba delta three breaking off, sustained heavy damage."

"Copy that. Hold fire unless it moves to engage."

"Chief?"

"We need everything up and running to face off whatever rumba charlie one's going to send our way."

"Copy that, Chief. Plasma turrets venting heat sinks."

"Give me an update on rumba charlie one."

"Rumba charlie one holding at range one thousand. Turning broadside ... Launching Oculi swarms!"

"All portside autocannon, ready firing solution Diamondbox-Six-Six. Let rip as soon as those rumba oscars are in range."

"Solid copy, Chief. Portside autocannon spinning up."

"Rumba Charlie one beginning to close behind Oculus screen, Chief."

"Copy that. Tell the Captain we need to be gone yesterday."

"Understood. Captain says phase engines are charging."

Thank the Spirits for that.

"Chief! One of the tachyon tethers is leaking! Captain reports we will be gone in T-minus one minute!"

Fuck!

"Time to contact?"

"Twenty five seconds!"

"What's the status of the ion bolt?"

"Still down, Chief."

"Chief! Two destroyers closing starboard! They blindsided us!"

"Alright! Divvy up starboard plasma turrets, three and three. Sustain fire on those destroyers. Least we can do is discourage them from opening their firing chambers."

"Copy that, Chief. Starboard plasma firing."

"Ten seconds to contact, Chief!"

"Chief! New contacts, two destroyers and a capital class coming right for our six!"

"Range?"

"Two thousand and closing fast!"

"Looks like it's that time of month for the big lady in the sky."

"Contact portside!"

"Fire autocannon!"

The rattling, percussive thud of autocannon shells filled the room as the golden ingots leaped out, smashing aside Oculi.

"Twenty seconds to phase jump!"

"Chief! Rumba Charlie one now within plasma range! Charging Thanix!"

"Fire portside plasma!"

"Sir, seven's crashing again!"

Spirits protect me from the incompetence of plasma gunners!

"Ten seconds to phase jump!"

"Sir! Rumba Charlie one now firing!"

"Brace!"

The entire room shuddered as the beam struck the energy shield.

"Shields at forty per cent! We're fucked!"

"No we're not!"

"Phase jump successful!"

The tac display was frozen on the display updated one millisecond before the phase jump. Two Reaper capital ships, one coming from directly behind, prepping to fire into the engines, the other striking from slightly above the plane and on portside. Two destroyers coming from down and starboard, both effectively suppressed, and two more about to fire from behind. A scattered field of debris that used to be a swarm of Oculi and one heavily damaged destroyer limping away.

Holy shit that was close.

RAEL'ZORAH VAS KARAMAZOV, EARTH STARBASE, MAY 12 2185

"I have to say, I'm impressed."

Beside him Legion nodded its head.

"The candidate showed an impressive control of his temper, as well as sufficient adaptability to recognise when it was appropriate to switch from a more offensive stance to a defensive one. In this simulation when the two destroyers come from starboard most candidates focus fire on one, eliminating it but opening themselves up to attack from the other. By choosing to suppress both destroyers candidate Vakarian managed to avoid extra stress on the shielding while still damaging both destroyers. This was also demonstrated when he ordered to hold fire on contact rumba delta three as it fled, instead preparing his plasma turrets for other targets."

Rael nodded, hands clasped under his chin.

"Mm, yes. He only made one mistake I saw. When rumba delta three was escaping, he had all portside plasma turrets vent at the same time, briefly negating all heavy firepower on that side of the ship, despite the fact that rumba delta three still had partial operation of its main weapon. If the destroyer had decided to make another run it could have done significant damage before the plasma turrets could re-engage."

Legion shifts its head flaps slightly, splaying the lower ones out like a Turian's mandibles.

"Acknowledged. However out of all available candidates Cadmus Vakarian is the most consistently efficient. He shows remarkable control of himself and his crew and is quick to adapt to rapidly changing situations."

"I agree with you there, XO. What about his family situation?"

Legion paused briefly, retrieving data from the starbase servers.

"Wife, Carissa Vakarian. Competent surgeon but medical shows she has a higher than usual probability of developing Cassatian syndrome, a wasting muscle disease, within ten years. The condition should be easily treatable with a gene mod. Son, Garrus Vakarian. Thirteen years old, currently engaged in genetic modification for the Sigma programme, has developed a circle of close friends on the Karamazov. Daughter, Solana Vakarian. Six years old, aptitude tests show she is highly intelligent, bordering on genius level, but too early to definitively determine."

"Alright, tag and bag him. Our medbay is short staffed anyway, we could use an extra surgeon."

"Acknowledged. Submitting transfer request."

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, EARTH STARBASE, MAY 20 2185

"Kaz? Are you okay?"

The thirteen year old boy looked up at her from his position hunched on the bench in one of the observation decks.

"Oh. Tali."

He looked back out at the view of Earth. After a second, she came to sit next to him, peeking up at him from under her bangs.

"What's wrong?"

There was a pause for a moment.

"It's my stupid parents again."

Tali leaned into his side and after a moment he put his arm around her.

"What did they do?"

"They just think they're always right, you know? And they're getting all high and mighty about being Sigma. They say things like 'Ascension are all biotic freaks' and 'N7 aren't real soldiers' and then they go and tell me and Karina they don't want us to hang out with people who aren't Sigma. And then we told them that was bull, and they said either we were with them or against them, and I said fine! I'm against you and your superior bullshit, and the next thing I know ..."

He swung his arm round and for the first time Tali noticed that there were several bags in the corner piled up.

"They kicked you out?"

"Yeah."

"Those bosh'tets!" She paused as something occurred to her. "Where's Karina?"

He glanced over to the woman's bathroom.

"She locked herself in one of the stalls and hasn't come out."

"Do you want me to go talk to her?"

"Could you?"

She smiled and patted his elbow.

"I'll be back soon."

She got up and headed into the women's bathroom, easily zeroing in on the sound of weeping emanating from the stall at the end of the row.

"Kari?"

"Fuck off Tali."

"Kaz told me what happened."

"Fuck Kaz! This is all his fault!"

"Please, come out. We can sort this out ..."

The door slammed back against the wall and Karina stormed out, the enormous Sigma recruit bodily yanking her off her feet and slamming her back against the wall. She cried out in shock and pain as the back of her head hit the unyielding metal and suddenly the fire in Karina's eyes was extinguished.

"Oh my god, Tali, I'm so sorry!"

Tali tentatively put her arms around her enormous friend.

"Come on, Kari. We'll all get together, figure something out, okay?"

Karina hugged Tali tightly, bending her neck down to press her face into the top of Tali's head.

"What could we possibly do?"

Tali pulled back slightly and looked up at her best friend.

"You're forgetting something."

She put on an incredibly phoney Miranda impression.

"My daddy's the Captain."

ASHLEY WILLIAMS, VANCOUVER, MAY 21 2185

"Oh, motherf..."

Her exclamation of dismay was cut short by her stomach giving another almighty heave, eliciting a low groan from the thirteen year old girl kneeling over the toilet.

"Ashley, honey, how are you doing?"

She briefly clutched at her backflipping intestines before hollering back a response.

"I'm fine, Mum. Just the gene mods acting up again."

After a moment, she heard her mother padding away from the bathroom door. Moments later:

"Ashy! Ashy!"

"Not now Sarah. I'm busy ... urk"

Once again her stomach spasmed epically despite having run out of puke two hours ago. The Sigma gene mods made a subject stronger, faster, larger and smarter but they also made them sick as a varren for about forty eight hours after each monthly dose, which is, as Kaidan put it, suboptimal.

Oh shit. Here it comes again.

"Fucking gene mods ..."

JEFF MOREAU, SATURN STARBASE, JULY 5 2185

"Spade checking in."

"Club checking in."

"Diamond checking in."

"Queen checking in."

"Heart checking in."

"King checking in."

"Ace checking in."

Flight Trainee Jeff Moreau skimmed his eyes over the engine lights and nodded to himself. All good.

"Joker checking in. Alright people, this is our first flight as a squadron, so let's not fuck this one up, okay?"

"Copy that, Joker."

"Stick with your wingman and try not to die. This is one hell of a big step up from the simulator. Even with the compensators on full we're still going to be feeling some Gs."

He glanced at his mission clock.

"Launch in T-minus two minutes people. Last chance to check your engines, call your ma, touch yourself, whatever."

He flipped the comm off and turned around in his seat. His trainee squadron were the first to be trained solely on the new Shriken-class corvettes. Unlike the old five-man Stilat class, the Shrikens only required a single pilot, the functions of the other four crew filled solely by a highly advanced AI.

"Edi, talk to me. How are we doing?"

The holographic AI avatar of an incredibly fit brunette in an un-naturally tight Flight Academy uniform glanced at him from her position perched on a metal panel in the roomy cockpit, idly swinging her legs. Like him, she took the appearance of a sixteen year old Flight Trainee, albeit an incorporeal supermodel Flight Trainee.

"All systems optimal, Joker."

The comm crackled briefly.

"Normandy squadron, attention. Your mission brief is being uploaded to your co-pilots now. Be advised, your ships are carrying live munitions for a live-fire target exercise at the end of the mission. Launch in thirty seconds."

"Copy that. Normandy squadron out."

He thumbed the comm off.

"What the shit! Live fire on the first flight?"

Edi blinked and rubbed her forehead.

"Well, our squadron and us specifically have attained consistently record-breaking scores on all areas in the simulators."

"Have we ... Wait. You didn't hack the database, did you?"

The avatar smirked and put her finger to her lips.

"I won't tell if you don't."

"Copy that, ma'am."

JUSTICAR SAMARA, ARDAT-YAKSHI MONASTERY ON LESUSS, JULY 16 2185

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you where you stand!"

Morinth subtly shifted her grip on her pistol, keeping it trained on her mother's head as Samara aimed her Disciple shotgun straight at her eldest daughter.

"Look around you, Mother!"

"Don't call me Mother!"

"I came here to save Falere and Rila! You abandoned them here, but I never forgot about them. Like it or not they're my sisters!"

"They stayed in the monastery, swore to do no harm! You ran around the galaxy, leaving a trail of bodies!"

"THEY'RE STRONGER THAN ME!"

Samara was briefly silenced by the tone of Morinth's voice.

"I was too weak to control myself! I couldn't stop myself, but Rila and Falere could. That's why I came here. I need to save them because they're better. Stronger."

A single tear rolled down a blue cheek as she continued, her pistol wavering.

"You can't imagine what it's like. The power. It's addictive. I tried to stop, I always told myself it was going to be the last one, that maybe this time I would settle down, live a normal life, but I never could!"

Before Samara could reply, an unearthly shriek rent the air. Mother and daughter looked at each other.

"Fight Banshee now, kill me later."

"Agreed."

And with that they both dove for cover. The Banshee emerged at the end of the room, shrieking as it biotically jumped towards them, flanked by three Cannibals.

"Mother! Reave it!"

Samara leaned out of cover and threw a purple ball of energy, surrounding the mutated Ardat-Yakshi in a nimbus of purple before putting several rounds into one of the Cannibals, felling it. Morinth reached out mentally, hammering her way into the mind of another one of the Cannibals.

Kill the Banshee.

The Batarian husk paused for a moment before redirecting its fire towards the Banshee. The monster was quick to turn around and pick it up, examining it curiously before plunging a clawed hand through its abdomen. Morinth cried out in shock and ducked back into cover. It was always horrible when someone she was controlling was killed. For a moment she had felt the claw as if it was striking into her own gut instead of the Cannibal's. Samara glanced over to her before spraying more Disciple rounds at the Banshee.

"Move to flank it!"

Morinth scrambled up and, still crouched, ran over to a position at the Banshee's four o clock, popping up to send a flurry of pistol shots that felled the last Cannibal.

Before Samara could do anything else gunfire sounded out, tearing through the Banshee. She looked back in amazement to see a line of white armoured figures holding out glowing blue shields, absorbing one of the Banshee's biotic bursts with little difficulty as more of the white figures split off from the main group, surrounding the mutant Ardat-Yakshi and opening fire with rifles that seemed to be a fusion of Geth technology with the M-76 Revenant, the glowing plasma rounds tearing through the armour of the abomination with disturbing ease.

The Banshee fell, shrieking, as one of the figures approached Samara, scanning her with what seemed to be a blue version of an Omnitool. The figure was of a Turian, regarding her through a black full-face visor. The armour was quite strange, seeming to have design influences from Krogan armour, Geth plating and even Quarian exosuits as well as some design elements that were utterly alien to her.

The Turian removed his helmet and nodded to her.

"Major Nihlus Kryik, TEC Marines, Sigma corps. Are you wounded, ma'am?"

She blinked and shook her head.

"No, I am unharmed. Are you not a Spectre?"

Nihlus grinned and absent mindedly scratched his mandible.

"I was. Thanks to my prior combat expertise, I was approved for the accelerated Sigma programme induction. And of course, that means nothing to you. My apologies. And you are ..."

"Justicar Samara."

His mandibles swung open in surprise.

"A Justicar? What brings you out here?"

Samara looked downwards, ashamed.

"My daughters. This is an Ardat-Yakshi monastery. They are residents here."

"Ardat-Yakshi?"

She sat down heavily on one of the planting beds she had recently been taking cover behind and sighed.

"It is a rare genetic condition. An Ardat-Yakshi will kill anyone she tries to meld with."

At that precise moment, Morinth walked up with two more Sigma troopers. Nihlus nodded at them.

"Ma'am, may I introduce Lieutenants Armando-Owen Bailey and Kal'Reegar vas Lazarus. Owen, Kal, this is Justicar Samara."

Kal removed his helmet and scratched his nose.

"Mm, a pleasure. Major, Morinth. Morinth, Major Nihlus Kryik."

Samara spoke up again.

"My daughter here is an Ardat-Yakshi."

"Owen, take a tissue sample."

Without further ceremony Bailey jabbed a needle through Morinth's armour and into her wrist.

"Ow! Daughter of a bitch!"

"Ah, quit whining ya big baby."

He withdrew the needle.

"Siri, run a genetic assay on this, will ya?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Bailey. Analysis complete. Ardat-Yakshi genetic markers identified. Transmitting data to Lazarus for gene mod synthesis."

Morinth was looking at the glowing blue iTool with amazement.

"Your Omnitool talks?"

"iTool, not Omnitool, and yeah. So shall we get hustlin' or what?"

Samara narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"What was all that about?"

"Synthesisin' a cure for your Ardent Yakshagger whatever."

"You can do that?"

The one called Bailey tilted his head. Although it was impossible to tell through the opaque visor, she had the feeling he was looking at her with incredulity.

"Yeah, the TEC ain't half bad at playin' with genetics. Woulda thought the seven foot tall Quarian bloke would be a dead giveaway, but eh."

Morinth shook her head.

"Look, we can worry about that later. Right now we need to find my sisters and anyone else left alive. The Reapers are turning them into those ... Those."

She gestured at the dead Banshee on the ground.

"Holy shit. She was one tough bitch, too."

The Sigmas were distracted from their conversation with Samara and Morinth by a bright flash in the sky. Moments later the shout went up.

"They did it! Captain Kirrahe took down the Rumba Charlie!"

Samara and Morinth looked at each other, baffled by the stone cold warriors suddenly jumping up and hugging one another.

"What's going on?"

Nihlus turned to her, elation apparent on his face.

"Our ship just took out a Reaper capital ship!"

Nihlus allowed his men exactly forty seven seconds of celebration before snapping them back into order.

"Nexus Unit! Let's move!"

The twelve white-armoured figures fell in, forming three four-man squads.

"Samara, go with Kal'Reegar's squad. Morinth, you're with Bailey's squad. Let's shift, people!"

RAEL'ZORAH VAS KARAMAZOV, TON KARAMAZOV, JULY 19 2185

Hannah stared in disbelief at the transfer orders in her hand.

"Captain ... TON Titunev?"

Rael'Zorah nodded solemnly.

"Correct. Captain Gerrel is in need of some experienced Sigmas to shore up his detachment. Most of them are straight from the Academy."

The Titunev? Hannah and her husband Artyom could hardly believe their luck. The Titunev, serving under the legendary Captain Gerrel on the only ship in the fleet with three confirmed Reaper capital ship kills painted on her bow?

"Captain, I ... I don't know what to say."

"I didn't want to lose you two, but Han'Gerrel is an old friend of mine and he managed to convince me he needed your expertise more than me. Congratulations. However, I do have one piece of bad news."

Hannah just blinked at him, not seeing any bad news possible.

"The Marza-class dreadnought TON Lazarus has just reported another confirmed Reaper capital ship destroyed. I regret to inform you that you are now transferring to the second most successful ship in the fleet."

Both Hannah and Artyom chuckled at that.

"Well, thank you anyway, Captain Zorah. It's been a pleasure serving under you."

"And it's been a pleasure having you on my ship. Your shuttle to Mars Starbase leaves in six hours."

The two Sigmas hurried off to pack up their cabin and Rael let out a tired sigh.

"XO, you have the conn."

"Acknowledged, Captain."

Rael jogged through the corridors to his cabin, finding Tali sitting at the table with Kari and Kaz, the Shepard twins.

"Hi Dad."

"Hey Tali. There's a package for me at Shuttle Bay 3. Do you think you could go fetch it?"

"Sure Dad."

The Quarian girl enthusiastically bounced out of the room as Rael sat down at the table.

"I've got some good news for you two."

The twins turned to look directly at him, their green eyes boring into his silver ones.

"I finally managed to transfer your parents off the ship. They're headed over to the Titunev."

The two of them immediately leaped up and hugged him, eliciting a surprised squawk.

"Thanks so much for everything you've done, Mr. Zorah."

"Ah, I'd do it for any of Tali's friends."

Slight fib. There was no way in hell he'd let Massani's whelps move in with him and Tali if their dad kicked them out, but then again that would never happen. Say what you will about Zaeed but he loved his kids.

"Now I believe we have something to set up before Tali returns."

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, TON KARAMAZOV, JULY 19 2185

Keelah, this package was heavy! Arms straining, she lugged it through the corridors, almost colliding with several crewmembers who seemed to find the sight of a twelve year old Quarian girl tottering under the weight of whatever was in the package incredibly cute. Finally she made it back to the cabin she shared with Rael, groaning and running a hand through her hair after dumping the package on the floor. The lights were out.

"Dad? Kaz? Kari?"

Huh. Odd. She flicked the lightswitch.

"Surprise!"

She nearly jumped out of her skin as the room lit up, showing her circle of friends, along with Dad, Mr. and Mrs. Vakarian and Uncle Wrex, all standing under a banner reading 'HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY TALI'.

Her friends swarmed her, Kaz and Kari lifting her up and parading her around the spacious cabin as everyone struck up a chorus of 'Happy Birthday'. As they set her down, Tali looked over to her father, her face a picture of innocence.

"So what's in the box?"

WARLORD OKEER, BENNING MILITARY LAB, JULY 24 2185

Benning was a soft planet, thought Okeer. None of the challenges of old Tuchanka. Ironic, that this soft planet had been selected for the location of the creation of hardened warriors.

Because of his millennium of expertise in genetics, Okeer, along with the Human Lawson and the Quarian Xen, was one of the chief geneticists of the Sigma project. It was his responsibility to ensure that each successive generation of Sigmas were stronger, tougher, faster than before. The latest iteration of gene mods, Sigma Four, had been released to coincide with the 2184-85 intake year. A shame he wasn't permitted to entertain some of his more outlandish ideas. Despite his best protests, Lawson continued to state that integrating Blood Rage into Sigmas would only make them a liability on the battlefield, pointing out some failed programme called Blue Sun as a demonstration of exactly how stupid it was to mess with the candidates's brain chemistry. A shame that, but he had to admit, Xen's idea of completely removing their pain receptors was idiotic beyond belief. Every Krogan knew that pain made you stronger, and Lawson also had a point about the way that pain was the body's warning system. But Lawson wasn't perfect either - both he and Xen had shot down his idea about using Rachni gene mods to give all Sigma recruits biotics. Okeer was firmly of the opinion that reliance on biotics bred weakness and Xen had pragmatically pointed out that if the Sigma programme was folded into the Ascension programme they would be out of a job.

So Okeer contented himself with testing his wilder theories on tank bred Krogan. Since the TEC used Rachni pheromone capsules to effectively render the Genophage ineffective, Okeer could focus his efforts elsewhere. Such as producing the ultimate Sigma in a tank. Obviously he had picked a Krogan basis - they were, after all, the strongest species - and now he was cramming in as many gene mods as physically possible. He had also, he hoped, manage to divorce Blood Rage hormones from higher order brain function, meaning that theoretically his prototype should be able to go into Blood Rage but still be able to think clearly on top of that.

He paused for a second and looked at the silver plated Krogan child floating in the breeding tank. Oh yes. He would be the ultimate soldier. The strongest grunt.

EDI, SATURN STARBASE, JULY 30 2185

Audio input: Hey Edi. How's the ship?

Processing

Retrieving data

Audio output: All fine, Jeff. What's up?

Audio input: Just wanted to talk.

Processing

Analysing

Analysis complete: Jeff is upset

Visual output: Facial Expression #506 (Concerned Frown IV)

Audio output: Jeff, you seem upset.

Visual input: Jeff slumps in seat

Processing

Analysing facial expression

Analysis complete: Earlier conclusion stands

Audio input: Just thinking about my condition, you know?

Processing

Retrieving data

Audio output: Vrolik's syndrome?

Audio input: Yeah, that.

Processing

Visual output: Facial expression #329 (Understanding VII)

Audio output: You must know that nobody in the Academy thinks less of you because of that. In fact many people have expressed their admiration for your resolve in qualifying as a pilot despite the condition.

Visual input: Jeff turns to look at my avatar.

Processing

Analysing facial expression

Analysis complete: Jeff feels reassured.

Secondary analysis complete: He's kind of cute.

Audio input: Uh, Edi?

Disregarding secondary analysis

Processing

Audio output: Sorry. Got lost in thought.

Visual output: Facial expression #162 (Shy Smile II)

Audio input: Alright then. Glad to see you're back.

Processing

Analysing

Analysis complete: He really is cute. I wonder if he and I ...

Disregarding analysis!

DAVID ANDERSON, JUPITER TITAN DOCKS, AUGUST 1 2185

"At ease, Captain."

Captain Anderson lowered his arm from his salute and watched Admiral Hackett walk over to the observation window.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Admiral?"

Hackett was silent for a moment, looking down at the docks.

"You do realise what an investment this ship of yours represents?"

"Yes sir, I do."

"The resources we've sunk into this, we could build twelve Kol-class battleships and their attendant escorts."

"I am aware of that, sir."

"The Admiralty feels that the ship's sheer mass makes it too cumbersome to effectively engage Reaper forces. The spinal cannon is an impressive weapon on paper, but after the first shot it fires no Reaper is going to move into its frontal arc."

"Sir, I am preparing a tactical report ..."

"You're very lucky Admirals Lindholm, Bakara and Singh share your position on this. We're too far along to halt construction anyway. I just came to ensure you had thought about the operational concerns of this ship class."

"Yes, sir, I have. For example, my chief engineering consultant, Shala'Raan, believes that the amount of Element Zero in the ship's deflector core should be sufficient to be able to effectively deflect Thanix beam charges."

The Admiral's posture shifted slightly, indicating that he was suddenly interested.

"I hadn't heard that, Captain."

"I don't know the numbers, but from what I understand, the effectiveness of a deflection field is limited not by the momentum but solely by the velocity of the incoming fire. In the case of Thanix beams, they simply travel too fast to be picked up by our usual deflectors, but deflectors of this new design have an extra layer of mass effect fields that slows the Thanix beams before they reach the actual deflection layer, making them possible to deflect. Simulations show that at peak operation the new system has up to a 70 per cent chance of deflecting a Thanix beam strike, even if the energy shield itself is disabled."

The Admiral is silent for a moment.

"Impressive. We've invested one hell of a lot in this ship. When will it be ready for deployment?"

"Nine years, sir."

"Quicker than expected. Keep up the good work, Captain. She's your baby, after all."

Anderson saluted as the Admiral left the room. Phew. That was nerve-wracking. Then he turned back to look out at the ship.

His ship.

TON Ragnarov.

A/N: Randomly felt like doing a codex. Prepare for info dump on an epic scale.

THE TRADER EMERGENCY COALITION (ORIGINS)

The Trade Order was a loose conglomeration of planets spread across ten star clusters, individual planets ruled by Human trade barons or Rachni Queens. When the Trade Order came under attack in 2133 by the Advent, a rogue faction of Humans who insisted on trying to merge their DNA with Rachni genes, the Trade Order suffered severe losses, at peak with more than one third of their territory controlled by the Advent before they re-organised into the Trader Emergency Coalition, unifying their core planets under a single high command and re-tooling their vast commercial empire into a wartime economy. Although initially their repurposed freighters and utility cruisers were outmatched 1 on 1 by the Advent ships, the sheer number of converted vessels being thrown into the meat grinder bought enough time to begin the production of dedicated war machines, most notably the Kol Battleship and the Sova Carrier. The Advent were eventually crushed under the sheer weight of firepower brought to bear by the thickly armoured TEC vessels. After the war ended in 2142, the TEC obtained a good deal of Advent technology, greatly advancing their shielding and engine technology as well as their genetic manipulation technology.

THE PROTHEAN RUINS

In 2148 a TEC survey team on Mars discovered the ruins of an ancient base dating back almost sixty thousand years. This base proved to be a treasure trove of alien technology, including vast stocks of something called 'Element Zero' that unlocked a whole new branch of physics. But the most significant discovery was the discovery of an enormous structure encased in ice, orbiting Pluto. This structure turned out to be a gateway to an enormous network of interconnected relays, seeming to have been plucked straight from the Rachni myth of the Darksong Destroyers, enormous creatures that raised them up and sent them to fight a war that eventually resulted in their destruction. Gripped with paranoia, the TEC ordered the structure to be broken up and the raw materials warehoused for study. Twenty three more such relays were found in TEC space, all of which were broken up and stored.

THE REAPER WAR

In early 2183, the Reapers appeared, with the enormous Reaper ship Sovereign opening up the Mass Relay hidden at the heart of the Citadel. The station was scoured of all life within days despite a heroic resistance effort led by Spectres Saren and Desolas Arterius, and the Reaper fleets went on to cut off the Council affiliates from one another before turning to crush all organised resistance one by one. Despite the Council's utter lack of success against the invading Reapers scattered reports have been coming in about strange ships appearing on the edge of the combat zones and successfully holding off Reaper forces in time to extract a refugee ship or a unit of soldiers before disappearing again.

The TEC's part in the Reaper war has thus far been limited. The demolition of all Mass Relays, as well as their use of phasic FTL drives, has thus far kept the Reapers out of their territory but the Coalition is well aware that if the Reapers ever manage to penetrate their territory the only result is the complete destruction of everyone there. Therefore the TEC have begun to resist the Reapers galaxy-wide by taking in refugees, building up their fleets to the point where they can effectively challenge the Reapers for control of a star cluster long enough to disassemble the Relay.

THE REAPER WAR: Operation Thresher Maw

Operation Thresher Maw, as it became known, was the total evacuation of the Krogan species from Tuchanka and represented the first major fleet action the TEC undertook against the Reapers. Luckily for the TEC, the nature of the Krogan DMZ meant that the Reapers had not anticipated any form of space combat, meaning they only sent three Reaper capital ships and about twenty destroyers, along with troop transports for concerted ground warfare. The TEC First Fleet managed to overwhelm the Reaper fleet and immediately began dropping Sigma and Ascension corps troops planetside to assist the Krogan in the rapid extermination of the Reaper forces. From that point, following three days of tense negotiations the Krogan agreed to leave Tuchanka in favour of full citizenship within the TEC. Operation Thresher Maw was completely successful and the arms stockpiles of the Krogan as well as their incredibly robust physiology resulted in several dramatic improvements to Sigma gene mods and armament.

THE REAPER WAR: Operation Nomad Empire

Operation Nomad Empire, made possible through intel gathered from the Krogan as well as several advances in phase space technology, was the extraction of the Quarian Migrant Fleet from the Raheel-Layya system where it had been cornered by a large contingent of Reapers. The TEC First, Second and Fourth fleets, with the Fifth and Seventh in reserve, jumped into the system by phase space and came in right behind the Reaper forces. Almost immediately the Seventh was called from the reserve - it was clearly apparent both the Migrant Fleet and the Reaper detachment were far larger than anticipated. This deployment was the first engagement of the Kol Mk. II - a reworked version of the Advent-era Kol Battleship clad entirely in Mass Relay alloy armour, with improved energy barriers and four reverse-engineered Thanix beam cannon replacing its laser beam primary armament. The detachment of eight Kol Mk. IIs alone chalked up four Reaper capital ship kills between them before the Reapers had even moved to engage. This was most likely the first time in history a Reaper capital ship had encountered a class of vessel that was their match in a one on one battle. While the bulk of the First, Second, Fourth and Seventh fleets, along with what was left of the Quarian Heavy and Patrol fleets, engaged the Reaper armada in a pincer movement, a large force of TEC Kodiak heavy cruisers broke away, attaching tow cables to the Migrant Fleet's civilian ships and evacuating them via Phase Space, returning them immediately to the Sol system in a three-leg journey to ensure the Reapers weren't tracking them. As soon as the first wave of Kodiaks departed, the Reaper forces turned back to the Migrant Fleet, inadvertently exposing their open firing chambers to the guns of the Heavy Fleet, who managed to inflict severe damage. As soon as the Reapers were no longer directly threatening them the TEC's Percheron and Sova class carriers deployed enormous bomber wings equipped with the new Abbadon antimatter missile, which proved deadly when exposed to the Reaper firing chambers, their most exploitable weakness. The battle wasn't entirely one-sided however - a small group of Reapers performed an FTL jump, appearing in the middle of a wave of Kodiak cruisers and obliterating the entire group before TEC capital ships could bring their guns to bear. Even outnumbered ten to one the Reapers proved to be a match for the combined might of the Migrant Fleet and the TEC. Reluctantly, the Fifth Fleet was called in from reserve, bringing two extra Kol IIs to the fight as well as their only reserve of Kodiak cruisers. Although the Kol IIs were brutally effective and the blocky Marza-class Dreadnoughts were nigh untouchable behind their co-ordinated missile barrages, the more support-oriented capital ships, in particular the Sova-class carriers, suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Reaper fleet. In the end only 20 per cent of the Reaper armada was destroyed by the time the last of the Migrant Fleet was evacuated and the TEC forces broke off, with losses among the TEC fleets in one case reaching 50%. Nevertheless the acquisition of the Quarians proved to be an enormous long-term advantage for the TEC due to their technical and space combat expertise.

THE REAPER WAR: Operation John Connor

After extensive debriefs of Quarian personnel, a TEC envoy aboard the Kol Mk. II TON Titunev was deployed to the Tikkun system to open negotiations with the Geth Collective. However when the Titunev arrived it found a Reaper capital ship already in the process of hacking the Geth Collective. Captain Han'Gerrel immediately ordered the Titunev bring all firepower to bear on the Reaper and, in his own words, "Obliterate the bosh'tet. He's hacking my Geth." The Titunev's first volley managed to sever one of the Reaper's legs, disrupting its hacking attempt, but the Reaper jumped to FTL before the Titunev could fire again, escaping into the Tikkun system's asteroid belt. Captain Gerrel ordered an immediate pursuit course, and thus followed a five hour game of cat and mouse in the asteroid belt that finally ended when the Titunev, with her energy barriers fully depleted and several hull breaches, managed to fire all four beam cannons directly into the Reaper's firing chamber, destroying it. At this point the Geth, having finally recovered from the Reaper's hacking attempt, were more than happy to join the TEC. A popular film was later released about the incident, entitled Our Finest Hour.

THE TRADER EMERGENCY COALITION IN 2185

In 2185, the TEC has the Humans, the Rachni, the Krogan, the Quarians and the Geth as full member races, as well as Turian, Salarian and Drell citizens. Current TEC territory covers fourteen star clusters, forty four systems and one hundred and sixty two colonised bodies, including planets, planetoids and large asteroids. In terms of military strength the TEC has twelve battlefleets based around their territory, accompanied by twelve full armies and various Sigma, Ascension and N7 detachments stationed on the fleet's capital ships.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Aaand ... Time jump! Welcome to Sigma training, peeps. Enjoy your stay. And if anyone asks, yes I am lifting shamelessly from the boot camp scenes in 'Old Man's War' by John Scalzi. If you haven't read that book, stop whatever you are doing and go buy it.

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, SEPTEMBER 1 2187

Benning really was quite a beautiful planet. The purplish sky met the lush turquoise forest at the horizon, forming an unbroken vista of colour as the greenish star rose majestically up, bathing her in its balmy warmth. A perfectly clear river ran over silvery rocks somewhere off to her right, tiny blue and green fish darting around in the lazy flow.

If there hadn't have been a large, angry lieutenant screaming in her face it would have been paradise.

Regrettably, there was.

"Stand at attention! Now listen up! I am Lieutenant Karr'Sem vas Numenia and for the next seven years I. Am. God, you get me?"

As one the recruits all screamed out.

"We get you sir!"

"Sir! I am a lieutenant! I work for a living! You will refer to me as Lieutenant, you get me?"

"We get you Lieutenant!"

"That's more like it." Her eyes tracked the Lieutenant as he paced in front of their group.

"You're not in Kansas anymore, kiddies. This is the Sigma training academy. I am going to spend the next seven years beating you into some sort of shape so you can call yourself Sigma! I know you got the mods and the stupid sense of invincibility that cones with them! Keep the mods, drop the sense! I got rules for you. Rule one: I am not invincible! Recruits, what is Rule One?"

Tali joined in screaming it with the other recruits.

"I am not invincible Lieutenant!"

"And don't you forget it. Rule Two: Being the same is for the army! What is Rule Two!"

"Being the same is for the army, Lieutenant!"

"Are you the army?"

"No Lieutenant!"

"Who are you?"

There was a distinct pause as the recruits stumbled over the question. Eventually Tali decided to put her foot in her mouth.

"We're Sigmas Lieutenant!"

The Lieutenant's eyes immediately fixed on her.

"Recruit, step forward!"

Oh, Keelah! Tali gulped and stepped forward before turning to the others.

"Name?"

"Recruit Zorah, Lieutenant."

The Lieutenant turned back to the other Sigma recruits.

"Recruit Zorah gets it! Who are you?"

This time the response is instant.

"We're Sigmas Lieutenant!"

"That's more like it. Back in line, Zorah."

Tali let out a breath she hadn't even realised she was holding and stepped back into the line. Two other base staff brought out a large crate and set it on the ground in front of the Lieutenant, who opened up the crate and lifted out what looked like a collapsed weapon of some sort. Tali could recognise elements of Geth technology as well as the design influences of Human weaponry.

"Recruits! This is the Heckler&Koch G-440 Vendetta! This is your rifle! Recruits Massani, Shepard, Rentola and Victus! Distribute the rifles!"

Tali watched as James and Kari, as well as a Salarian and a Turian she didn't recognise, started handing out weapons. She accepted hers from James with a nod before running one hand over the collapsed weapon.

"Recruits! All those with any form of firearm experience, step forward!"

The entire platoon took one sharp step forwards.

"All those who have ever handled a Vendetta step forwards!"

Nobody moved.

"Recruits! Rule Three: Where I go, my rifle goes! Recruits! Recite Rules One through Three!"

"I am not invincible! Being the same is for the army! Where I go, my rifle goes!"

There was some confusion at that, with half the recruits putting 'Lieutenant' on the end of each rule and the other half putting it only on the end of the third rule.

"Good! Now I am going to find a reason to dislike each and every one of you! And when I do, you are going to run that way," he points, "until you reach the river! Then you are going to run in the centre of the river until you reach the edge of the training ground! Then you are going to turn right back around the other way and run through the river until you reach the other edge of the training ground! Then you are going to turn around and run along the river until you get back here! And you are going to do it while holding your rifle fully extended! And you are going to do it naked! And if anybody is not back within one hour, they can go again! DO YOU GET ME!"

"WE GET YOU LIEUTENANT!"

Naked! Oh, Keelah! The lieutenant glances around the group, already selecting his first victims.

"Any Krogan, step forward."

The four Krogan in the group stepped forwards, forming a line in front of the lieutenant.

"Once upon a time my CO, Major Kryik, took a Banshee warp to the chest without shields up because his Krogan squaddie was in the middle of a Blood Rage instead of covering him like he should have been. Strip and run."

After a moment's hesitation the Krogan wriggled out of their jumpsuits and started running.

"Any Drell, step forward."

The two Drell recruits lined up in front of the lieutenant.

"We cured Keprel's four years ago. Quit bitching whenever you get soggy. Strip and run. Anyone acquainted with Major Zaeed Massani, step forwards."

Tali swallowed as she stepped forwards along with the rest of her friends.

"Damn that bosh'tet Zaeed for making the rest of us Sigmas look like kids with light up laser toys in comparison. Strip and run."

Oh Keelah, no! Desperately trying not to blush, Tali quickly unzipped her jumpsuit and shrugged it off before picking up her rifle. Public nudity in front of her best friends, including the boy she had a crush on since she was old enough to have a crush was probably a fifteen year old girl's worst nightmare. Don't look at Kaz, don't look at Kaz, don't ... Oh wow. No! Just run!

The six of them started running, reaching the water in no time at all. Tali gasped as she plunged into the chest high, ice cold and crystal clear water, the temperature a shock on her sensitive skin.

"Keelah! The rifles will get soaked!"

James shook his head.

"Dad said the Vendetta is fully waterproof. How the hell are we supposed to run through this?"

Ash chuckled and shook her head.

"Why do you think Uncle Wrex insisted we all learn to swim? Come on!"

And without further ado she plunged into the water, rifle clamped between her knees as she started swimming butterfly upstream. The others quickly followed suit, forming a sort of convoy as they forged along the river. Tali watched a school of fish dart away as they approached at prodigious speed. The course was a grand total of forty kilometres and for a Sigma, swimming at 40 kilometres an hour was child's play, even with a machine gun between her legs. An hour? She'd do it in forty-five minutes.

SAREN ARTERIUS, UNCHARTED PLANET, SEPTEMBER 1 2187

Saren looked out over the wreck of the Destiny Ascension and sighed. From his spot on top of the spire he could easily see all the activity around the crash site with his raptor vision, the swarming survivors of the crew dressed in a mixture of fragments of uniform and improvised cloth coverings. Being trapped on this miserable planet with a wrecked ship, three Councillors in denial and only three other Spectres to keep the peace was really beginning to grate at his nerves. The small dextro vegetable garden he had managed to get growing was supporting the handful of Turians on the crew but it had been four years since he had eaten a decent steak and he was feeling highly grumpy about it. Damn those Reapers! Ten of his Spectre comrades had died protecting the Council as they ran to the Destiny Ascension, hundreds of cruisers sacrificing themselves on the alien guns to protect the gutted ship as it limped toward the Mass Relay. And then their Element Zero core had imploded mid-jump, leaving them stranded on this accursed planet for the last four years and probably a lot longer than that too in the future.

He heard quiet footsteps behind him and glanced around, seeing the Asari walking up to him holding two steaming mugs.

"I brought you some apha."

"Thanks Tela." He accepted the mug from her and took a sip of the steaming liquid. "Mm, that's good."

Spectre Tela Vasir sat down beside him and inclined her head against his shoulder, sighing. She had taken to weaving small white flowers in the gaps between her crests and Saren closed his eyes, letting the heady aroma wash over him. A lot of bad things had happened to him over the past four years. Tela was one of the good things.

"Saren, something's bothering you."

"I'm sorry, amatra. Just thinking about the galaxy again."

She shifted behind him and started rubbing his tense shoulders, eliciting a growl of pleasure as her expert fingers worked out the tension.

"I'd cut off my right hand just for a status update from Palaven or the Citadel. For all we know we could be the last Turians, Salarians and Asari in the galaxy, or the fleets crushed this Reaper threat and the disappearance of the Destiny Ascension is the subject of conspiracy theories and the odd extranet documentary. Not knowing is killing me, amatra."

Tela was silent for a moment before replying.

"I know what you mean. I almost feel like anything would be better than not knowing."

She kissed his mandible briefly before sitting down next to him again and sipping from her own mug.

"Good thing we didn't have any Volus on board."

They both chuckled briefly and then resumed their vigil. Saren noticed it first, the figure of a Turian waving at him, far below. Probably Desolas.

"Agh, what does my little brother want now?"

Tela rolled her eyes.

"Let's go find out."

And with that she settled herself in Saren's lap and he pushed off the edge.

Tela surrounded them in a biotic field, cushioning the pair as they slid down the spire like the world's largest vertical slide, skimming along as the curve shallowed to fly into the air, Tela using her biotics to cushion their landing so they drifted gently to their feet in front of Desolas, who scratched his mandible.

"One of these days you're going to kill yourselves doing that."

Saren clapped his brother on the shoulder.

"So what is it?"

"I have no idea. Come see for yourself."

Desolas led them to a small crater about five hundred metres from the outer edge of the camp that definitely wasn't there this morning. Saren nodded to the Salarian crouching by the crater.

"Jondam."

"Saren, Tela."

"So, what have we got?"

Jondam Bau gestured around the crater. The whole thing was about three metres across.

"Whatever made this, gone by the time I got here two minutes after it landed. Shape seems too regular for meteorite, no debris, precise angle of descent. Most likely scenario, probe of some sort."

Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth there was a roar as a shuttle passed overhead.

"What the ... Back to the wreck!"

The four Spectres took off at a sprint, skidding to a halt as they took in the scene before them.

A shuttle was hovering above the ground, a number of white armoured figures clustered beneath it, large rifles held at port arms and preparing to move out. Saren recognised some figures that could be Asari under their heavy armour, or possibly Drell, along with two Turians and three enormous Krogan. One of the Krogan approached Saren and removed his helmet, revealing a blood red crest and eyes.

"Well paint my quad and call me a Vorcha, if it isn't Spectre Saren Arterius. Colonel Urdnot Wrex, TEC Marines, Ascension corps. You in charge here?"

RAEL'ZORAH VAS KARAMAZOV, TON KARAMAZOV, SEPTEMBER 1 2187

"My, my, I would have put on something nicer if I had realised I would be entertaining."

The assembled crew sniggered as the Councillors gaped speechlessly at him. He had instructed Wrex to bring the three of them to the bridge as soon as he'd figured out who he was bringing aboard his ship.

"I think you'll find, esteemed Councillors, that the galaxy is a very different place to the one you were used to. XO, ready the phase engines. As soon as we've taken aboard the rest of our guests make for the Sol system, best possible speed."

"Acknowledged, Captain Zorah."

He turned back around to face the Councillors.

"Hmm, let's see. I think my ship's quite representative of what you'll have to get used to. A Quarian captain, a Geth XO, the commander of our Marine contingent is a Krogan supersoldier, his second in command is a Human and, oh yes! We have a Rachni chief engineer. Major Massani, kindly escort the esteemed Councillors to their temporary quarters and familiarise them with the operation of the showers. Wrex, please show the Spectres in."

Rael knew his sarcastic tone was a little on the rude side but after three hundred years of institutional speciesism against Quarians on behalf of the Council he felt morally justified to be a little snippy. He straightened up and took on a slightly more military demeanour as the four Spectres filed in.

"I should imagine you have a lot of questions right now."

Saren was the first to bite.

"What's the Reaper situation?"

Rael looked a little sad as he replied.

"Running roughshod over the galaxy, I'm afraid. Palaven is holding, but barely. Sur'Kesh, too, but the Reapers seem happy to bomb from orbit there instead of landing ground forces. Thessia ... I wish the news were better. Thessia is fully under Reaper control and being depopulated rapidly. The only reason the Reapers haven't made the TEC their bosh'tet is because we dismantled all relays leading into our territory."

The Salarian, Jondam, was the next to pipe up.

"What exactly is this TEC you speak of?"

Rael nodded briefly.

"Ah yes. The Trader Emergency Coalition. Excuse me a second."

"All refugees aboard, Captain. Phase engines fully charged and ready."

"Set course for Sol, XO."

"Acknowledged."

The Karamazov leaped into phase space as Rael turned his attention back to the Spectres.

"The TEC is the only, and I mean the only organised force capable of resisting the Reapers at anything more than a planetary scope. The TEC was founded in 2135 during the Advent Wars, the founding races being the Humans and the Rachni." At the mention of the Rachni the Spectres stiffen but remain silent. "Our ships use phase engines, not eezo cores, for faster than light travel. The system is far slower than relay based travel but the Reapers do not possess the ability to use phase engines, meaning that with all Relays in TEC territory dismantled the Reapers are physically incapable of penetrating our space. The Krogan, Quarians and Geth are also members of the TEC and we possess large numbers of Turian, Salarian and Drell citizens. We're currently undertaking guerilla style operations against the Reapers to extract as many refugees as possible but we estimate we have at least seven years of fleet production to go before we are capable of challenging the Reapers for control of a cluster."

Desolas clears his throat.

"I'm having a hard time believing much of this. Geth? Rachni?"

Rael turns to the arm of his command chair, touching a button and bringing up a haptic interface.

"Excuse me Spectres. I have business to attend to. Colonel Wrex can answer any further questions you may have."

KARINA SHEPARD, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, SEPTEMBER 2 2187

"Recruits! What is Rule Two?"

"Being the same is for the army, Lieutenant!"

"Got it in one. Alright, I see I don't need to bust anyone's ass for breaking Rule Three. Everybody has a Vendetta, but the Vendetta is so damn versatile nobody uses it in the same way! You have in front of you a firing range. So fire. Experiment. Find out exactly what you do and do not like about the Vendetta. But remember Rule One."

"I am not invincible, Lieutenant!"

"Remember that! Any bosh'tet who shoots another bosh'tet is going to wish they never fell out of Mummy, do you get me?"

"We get you, Lieutenant!"

"Recruits! This is one order you will never be given outside of this facility, so pay attention. Play with your weapons!"

A polite smattering of laughter rose up from the assembled recruits and then they turned their attention to the rifles in their hands. Karina swept her gaze over the fire selector for the upper barrel. At the moment it was set to 'Safe'. She togged it ninety degrees clockwise, to the 'Auto' setting. To her surprise a set of iron sights popped out of the top of the gun. Glancing downrange, she sighted the rifle on one of the mannequin targets of a Husk and squeezed the trigger.

A veritable blizzard of plasma bolts spewed forth from the barrel of the gun, the recoil surprisingly manageable as the Husk target was shredded by the blitz unleashed upon its person. The zombified Asari disintegrated under the furious assault, eventually collapsing under the sheer weight of fire pouring into it. She let go of the trigger to see Garrus and James, the other two in her squad, staring at her with an expression of dumb surprise.

"What? He said play with the gun."

Ignoring the assorted gun noises ringing across the range, she tried the next position for the upper barrel. The position was marked 'Burst'. As she selected it the iron sights were replaced by a short assault scope that popped out the top of the gun. Interesting. She sighted down the scope at one of the mid-range targets, a Cannibal, and squeezed the trigger. The rifle let out a stuttering cough and five neat holes appeared in the Cannibal's face.

"Boom! Headshot!"

She pulled the trigger a couple more times, scoring neat kills on a couple more target dummies, before trying the last position. This one was marked 'Sniper'. As she flipped the switch over the rifle chirped cheerfully and extended the scope to something that looked like an old hunting rifle scope. Karina slowly held the gun up and examined it with a critical eye. No killing implement had the right to sound that happy. Damn thing even looked smug. Stupid, she knew. How can a gun look smug? But nevertheless she couldn't shake the feeling.

Rubbing her forehead, she took aim and a blue-white beam lanced out of the gun, spearing through the misshapen head of another Cannibal. Then she turned her attention to the bottom barrel. There was a little switch on the side of the trigger guard, easily accessible by the thumb of her right hand. She flicked it and the bottom barrel perked up eagerly, firing selector glowing. She turned the toggle to the first position. This time the fire selector had five positions instead of four. The first one was labelled 'Flame'. Should be fun.

She certainly wasn't prepared for the enormous gout of white fire that came spewing from the gun. Quickly letting go of the trigger, she watched the fires she had just started flicker for a moment before quickly toggling the next one. 'Cryo'. The Cryo mode at first appeared very similar to the flamethrower but it turned out to be the exact opposite. The flames were extinguished, replaced with a crystalline frosting that shimmered over everything, the rapid transition from hot to cold causing a strong breeze for a moment as air rushed in to fill the gap left as the air passed over by the cryospray contracted. The next toggle was 'Plasma'. She tapped the trigger and sent a gobbet of plasma arcing out over the range that promptly exploded, shattering several of the flash-frozen dummies. The final mode was 'Shot'. When she fired, a cluster of metallic flechettes leaped out of the barrel, embedding themselves in the range's backstop and slicing through several targets on the way.

"Take a look at your section of the range."

She almost jumped out of her skin as the Lieutenant spoke up from by her shoulder.

"That's the devastation that a single Sigma can cause. Never underestimate exactly how lethal you are. When you hug your Turian besty over there you hug him with enough force to crush the ribcage of a non-Sigma. Every time you pick up your rifle you have enough firepower in your hands to wipe out an entire squad of regular Army by accident. Your Vendetta is not a toy, Recruit Shepard. Remember that."

And with that he was gone.

HAN'GERREL VAS TITUNEV, EARTH STARBASE, SEPTEMBER 6 2187

Han sat in the lounge, nursing a very strong drink and looking out at his ship.

His ship. TON Titunev. The first ship in the fleet to have a Quarian captain, and she had been a Kol II. No, she had been the Kol II. The prototype. She had been waiting for him in Sol when his battered dreadnought had arrived and he had been frozen in the stasis net for seven hours, just looking at her hanging there. It wasn't as if he had much of a choice. But the more he stared at her, the more he had fallen in love. She had just hung there in space, with the beautiful blue Earth as a backdrop, her nose clean and unadorned apart from her name, emblazoned proudly along her bow.

The Trade Order Navy Titunev.

She wasn't pretty by any stretch, but she had what counted. And she was his ship, his baby.

It hurt so much to look at her right now.

He had gone out in a spacesuit himself to help the crew paint on that first kill flash after she had taken down that Reaper in Tikkun's asteroids, the Homeworld watching with pride as the invader was sundered and cast aside like so much scrap. He remembered the entire crew cheering, how their feet had pounded and the deck had shook and she had come alive with the joy of victory as he had gripped the arms of the command throne with white knuckles, whispering his heartfelt thanks to his ship. And now she hung there, that proud line of kill flashes seared through by a vindictive Thanix beam strike. She had scored her seventh Rumba Charlie. But seeing her wounded out there, lying dead as the repair crews swarmed over her and debated whether or not she should be scrapped, if this time the damage was too bad -

It felt hollow.

In the booth opposite him, Captain Kirrahe, that jammy bosh'tet captain of the TON Lazarus, was curled around something very, very alcoholic. So many times, he had sat at this very booth with Han, furthering their friendly rivalry as their ships hung out there, proud and whole. Lazarus was a Marza Dreadnought, the only ship in the fleet with a legend that could match the Titunev, just as broken as her sister. Kirrahe didn't romanticise it quite as much as him but in his own special way the former STG commando loved his ship. He never described how she felt alive, how it felt as if the ship herself was singing as she smashed aside Reapers, but Han could see the love in his eyes when he talked about the effective range and refire time of her Abbadon missile batteries, or the power draw of her enormous spinal siege cannon in his typical clipped tones. The green-skinned Salarian looked up and out again at his baby, his face a picture of pain, before bending back down to his datapad and then changing his mind, downing the rest of his drink and motioning for another.

Han looked down at his own datapad, eyes focusing on the cursor bar that sat there, blinking, mocking him, drilling it into him that he had failed his ship and his crew.

To the next of kin of Hannah and Artyom Shepard:

It is my deepest regret to inform you that|

GARRUS VAKARIAN, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, SEPTEMBER 7 2187

Garrus eagerly grabbed the proffered datapad. Sunday was mail day. He skimmed through his messages. One from his dad, wishing him well and chatting about various shipboard happenings, ending with an anecdote about a particularly incompetent plasma cannon technician that had him in stitches for a solid minute. Two from his mother, mostly consisting of a mix of motherly worry and medbay gossip, one incredibly poorly spelt yet endearing note from Solana, the latest issue of FilmTEC and one from Uncle Wrex that talked enthusiastically about the G-440 Vendetta for a good three pages.

Still chuckling to himself, he put down his datapad and glanced over to Kari. She was staring at her datapad, eyes wide and trembling, her knuckles white as her fists clenched tightly.

It was the crisp cracking sound of her datapad screen fracturing that broke him out of his stupor. He got up and padded over, talons clicking against the stone floor.

"Kari?"

She didn't respond. He bent over her and looked at the letter.

To the next of kin of Hannah and Artyom Shepard:

It is my deepest regret to inform you that

He didn't need to look any further.

"Oh no. Kari, I'm so sorry ..."

Her scream of grief nearly sent him scrambling backwards.

"NO!"

She hurled her datapad and collapsed in on herself, starting to sob even as the datapad shattered on the wall of the barracks. He blinked in surprise before wrapping his arms around her shaking form.

"Ssh, ssh, I'm so sorry, Kari ..."

She threw back her head and screamed in pure grief before turning and pummelling Garrus's chest with her fists, screaming in his face.

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

If he hadn't have been a Sigma, the blows would have shattered his ribcage and pulped his chest cavity. As it was he stood there, taking the hits until her energy disappeared and she collapsed, arms latching onto him as her tears soaked into his jumpsuit. He sat down on her bed, holding her, rocking her back and forth as she cried and making small comforting noises.

Twenty minutes later when the Lieutenant came in to yell at them for missing breakfast, the look in Garrus's eyes told him all he needed to know.

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, SEPTEMBER 9 2187

She found Kaz lying out by the river, his jumpsuit in a pile at the side of the path, his rifle lying beside him, bright green eyes closed. One of those tiny flying lizard things that filled the same ecological niche as butterflies on Benning had settled on his torso, curled up there as it held out its brightly patterned wings to air in the warm evening heat. She slithered out of her own jumpsuit and walked into the river, feeling cool water creeping up bare skin and inquisitive fish brushing against her shins as she stood in the river, watching the green sun descend majestically towards the horizon. She didn't mind being naked so much anymore. Sigma trainees got one jumpsuit a day. After three days of refusing to remove it in company, she had finally got so sick of the feeling of wet fabric clinging to her skin that she no longer cared about, as the trainees referred to it, 'skinning it' anymore. So she stood naked in the knee deep water and watched the sun slowly descending. As soon as it had dipped below the horizon the forest started to light up with bioluminescence, first the leaves lighting up in a soft turquoise, then the fish in the water in their vivid blues and greens and finally the usually transparent film of algae on the smooth rocks of the riverbed in their soft mauve glow, the occasional flash of orange and red flickering through the forest as some of the more brightly coloured butterfly lizards winged between the trees on fluttering gossamer wings. Not for the first time, Tali wished she could glow like the beautiful Benning forest at night.

She waded deeper into the pool, then plunged in and swam breaststroke through the perfectly transparent water before hauling herself out on the opposite bank and idly running her hand through a sea of glowing silvery flowers.

"They match your eyes, you know."

She didn't turn, her advanced Sigma hearing having heard the faint sounds of his approach.

"I think I might want to come and live here when I retire. Just spend all night out here in this meadow. Fall asleep in the grass."

Kazimir picked a handful of silver flowers and started twisting them together into a chain, sitting down on the glowing turquoise grass. After a moment she sat down beside him, watching as he worked two chains, one shorter than the other. She watched his hands working, admiring his dexterity as he looped the glowing flowers together.

Once he was done he turned back to her and lifted the longer chain, gently putting it around her neck, allowing it to settle round her shoulders before placing the other chain on her head like a crown. He then stood and looked at her, smiling at his handiwork.

"If only you could see how beautiful you are right now."

She stood beside him, stretching her seven foot frame before taking him by the hand and leading him to the edge of the pool, the purple glow of the rock algae illuminating them as they stepped out into the water until it was waist deep.

"Kaz, I ... I ... Oh, Keelah ..."

Then somehow, his lips found hers and in that moment nothing in the universe mattered except them.

URDNOT BAKARA, TEC COMMAND (MOSCOW), SEPTEMBER 12 2187

Urdnot Bakara, formerly the Shaman of the Urdnot female clan and now Admiral of the Fourth Fleet, prided herself on being the most progressive of the new breed of progressive Krogan, as demonstrated by the fact that she had over six hundred ships at her command and was widely regarded as one of the most tactically savvy Admirals on the TEC roster. So when even she felt the stirring of Blood Rage in her belly, something must be very, very aggravating.

At the moment, that something was Former Councillor Sparatus.

She muttered under her breath to her second in command.

"If that man air quotes something one more time I might just crush his hands, diplomacy be damned."

Being a Geth, he didn't chuckle, but on her other side Admiral Singh nearly choked on his coffee.

The recovery of the Council had quickly proved to be a massive headache for the TEC. The Councillors, especially Sparatus, had just waltzed into TEC command expecting to be put in charge and they held just enough sway with the Turian and Salarian populations that they couldn't be ignored.

At the front of the room it seemed like Representative Koris had finally had enough.

"Silence."

He didn't raise his voice, yet somehow his sheer presence quietened the entire room within seconds.

"The Council has proved, time and time again, that they operate an elitist policy. Their races are at the top of the pile. Do what we say or get out. That isn't how the TEC works. In the Coalition there are no distinctions of species. In the Coalition all get fair and equal opportunity regardless of what DNA they happen to have. And in the Coalition those who you would call the 'dregs of the galaxy' are respected and honoured. Look around you, Former Councillor Sparatus. Krogan Admirals. Quarian Generals. Drell Lawmakers. Even if you hadn't been stranded on an uncharted planet for four years, the history books tell that the Former Citadel Council is helplessly, hopelessly, hilariously out of touch with everything the Coalition stands for. Have a pleasant day, Former Councillor."

Somehow the wild cheering from that speech broke into a spontaneous chorus of the TEC's anthem, then a chant of TEC! TEC! Bakara was on her feet, cheering, singing and chanting with the rest of them.

She was the most progressive of a progressive Krogan race. But there was just something so savagely enjoyable about seeing the Former Council put down hard.

ASHLEY WILLIAMS, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, SEPTEMBER 14 2187

The Shepard twins were certainly dealing with grief a lot better than she did when she lost her father at the age of eleven. She supposed it helped that the two generations of the family were very estranged, and so they didn't have that close a connection, but still it had to hurt. And now it seemed that both of them were dealing with it by interspecies sex.

Kaz and Tali were pretty much an item now. She could practically smell the pheromones rolling off them whenever they were close to one another and the cute-but-shy glances and surreptitious hand holding was a dead giveaway. Kari and Garrus hadn't actually hooked up yet - anatomical issues notwithstanding, the two of them were far more recalcitrant about the whole thing but it was obvious to Ash that they had it bad for each other. Eh well.

At Sigma School the days were already starting to settle into a pattern. Up at six, breakfast at six thirty, physical and combat training seven to twelve thirty, lunch twelve thirty to one thirty, lessons one twenty to six, dinner and free time six to midnight, back in rooms at midnight, lights out at one. As well as teaching recruits to kill, maim and seriously handicap in ever-increasingly creative ways, the Sigma programme gave all recruits a strong mathematical, scientific and engineering based education with a number of optional modules as well. At the moment she was taking Human Psychology and Human History, as well as her ultimate favourite, Historical Poetry. She was even starting to spend her free time with her nose buried in Whitman and Tennyson, which drew much teasing from her fellow recruits. In all there were thirty recruits her age on the training facility, and two hundred and ten more scattered around other training facilities on the planet. A throughput of two hundred and forty Sigma graduates a year. Given the mandatory thirty year service term and assuming no battlefield losses, that meant at any one time in the TEC there were seven thousand two hundred active Sigma operatives. Given that the Krogan gene boosters stove off senescence for a ridiculously long time, a typical Sigma could look forward to a natural lifespan of something approaching eight hundred years, even the Salarian Sigma recruits. At the end of their thirty year service term Sigmas could re-enlist for another thirty years of service or move on to another line of work, although it was very rare for a former Sigma to become a civilian.

Ash looked up from her poetry book at the view of the base. She was curled up with her book in a tree, the bioluminescent leaves and the odd butterfly lizard providing ample illumination for her sharp Sigma vision to read the page with ease. Her rifle was cradled against her chest as the tropical evening breeze blew through the forest, gently cooling her and rustling the branches.

She glanced out over the river and saw Tali slipping through the water. The Quarian girl had come down to the river to swim pretty much every night she had spent here, icy liquid flowing over smoky grey skin illuminated from beneath by the glowing purple of the rock algae. On the bank Kaz was lying down in the bioluminescent grass, jumpsuit discarded beside Tali's and eyes closed. Kari was leaning against a rock, a patch of darkness in the soft light of Benning's forest, gently strumming her guitar as Garrus perched on a low branch nearby with his head buried in one of his magazine subscriptions. James was lying in the shallow water at the edge of the river, letting the cold flow wash away the accumulated sweat of the morning's exercises. This little glade on the edge of the training zone was their spot, where they went as soon as they finished dinner to relax and unwind, sometimes with quiet, murmured conversation, sometimes just by doing what they liked doing best, be it swimming, reading, playing guitar or simply relaxing.

Ash was distracted from her poems by the pounding of feet on the ground and moments later a Turian recruit came skidding around the corner, panting. Garrus recognised him immediately.

"Tarquin? What are you doing here?"

The other recruit - Victus, she remembered - managed to force some words out.

"Just heard ... Karamazov found ... Destiny Ascension!"

SAREN ARTERIUS, EARTH STARBASE, SEPTEMBER 18 2187

A blue hand trailed across his chest as Tela made a contented sound, the bedsheets tangled around their legs. This TEC certainly did things differently to what he was used to - Asari usually slept on tapering, triangular beds that restricted leg movement but the TEC supplied square, flat beds that allowed for a far greater amount of movement during sleep and ... other activities. Instead of compressed air chambers for personal hygiene they supplied something called a 'shower'- a spacious cubicle that sprayed warm water from the ceiling. He had to admit, he quite enjoyed experimenting with the use of the shower, especially after Tela joined him. The rooms they were sharing in the enormous orbital fortress known as a 'Star Base' had a floor to ceiling window that allowed him to watch the comings and goings of TEC ships as they moved around the station, including an impressive view of three enormous warships bristling with weapons. Turian and Asari warships were elegant, beautiful and symmetrical, as much works of art as weapons of war. Those TEC ships out there were designed for one purpose and one purpose only - destruction.

He felt Tela curl into his side and moments later her heavy breathing indicated she was asleep. He tilted his head to look out of the window again. There was a new ship out there, one he didn't recognise. The three he had grown used to seeing, he had tentatively identified as members of the old Kol Mk. I class, awaiting refit or decommissioning. The new one was of similar shape but significantly larger, the thick slabs of armour having a slight lustre to them the other three lacked and the spindly forward weapons replaced by four thickly tapering barrels that held an intangible aura of menace. He looked at the name painted on the nose. TON Numenia. She didn't have the elegance of an Asari dreadnought or a Turian cruiser, but she exuded a sense of cool confidence that somehow compelled him.

He turned his head away from the window and looked up at the ceiling, already feeling his head nodding as he began to drift to sleep.

RAEL'ZORAH VAS KARAMAZOV, MERCURY STARBASE, SEPTEMBER 21 2187

"Retired! What are you talking about?"

The Admiral shook her head.

"I'm sorry Captain Zorah, this comes from way above me. The decision has been made to retire the Akkan class in favour of more warfare-oriented designs. The Karamazov will be retired and her crew transferred in toto to a new vessel bearing the name TON Karamazov."

Rael sat down heavily.

"Give me a moment, Admiral."

Admiral Bakara quietly waited for the distraught captain to collect himself.

"I've been through a lot with the old girl, you know? My little girl practically grew up on that ship."

"I understand. If it's any consolation the new Karamazov will be forged entirely from the material of the old Karamazov, apart from certain components such as the Thanix cannon, the gauss railgun and the relay alloy armour, of course."

"Thanix cannon? Gauss railgun? Wait a second ... A Kol II?"

Bakara shook her head.

"No, Captain Zorah. The Karamazov 2 will be the first of the new class of Kol Mk. IIIs. We have made several improvements over the Kol II class, including a prototype flak burst weapon, an antimatter warhead railgun to complement the forward Thanix battery and a dual eezo core system that facilitates the use of Raan-pattern adaptive deflector fields that we hope can deflect Thanix blasts."

"I ... I don't know what to say ..."

"Han'Gerrel's TON Titunev is also being refitted to Kol Mk. III following the damage she sustained. If you wish you can discuss it with him."

The Admiral left, leaving him slumped on the seat in her office.

LEGION, MERCURY STARBASE, SEPTEMBER 23 2187

Analysing pigment -

Analysis complete. Increase saturation by 0.003%. Applying -

Application complete. Scanning reference material -

Projecting angle of light -

Projection complete. Increasing brightness on sunward side by 0.0006% -

Operation complete. Scanning background reference. Scan complete. All constellations in correct position -

Applying name to bow. Retrieving data -

Data retrieved -

Applying name. TON Titunev. Application complete. Scanning battle damage -

Battle damage applied correctly. Alert! Paint hue 'Sunrise Yellow' fully depleted -

Retrieving resupply of 'Sunrise Yellow' from supply cupboard -

Resupply complete. Scanning image -

Modify cloud formation on Rannoch, grid 18879/25293 by 0.03 degrees -

Modification complete -

Darken nebula hue 'Eldritch Purple' by 0.007% -

Operation complete. Painting complete. Signing painting -

Signing complete. Title for painting? -

TON Titunev at Rannoch - REJECTED

Victory for TON Titunev - REJECTED

Titunev Victorious - REJECTED

TON Titunev, Tikkun system - REJECTED

TON Titunev - CONSENSUS ACHIEVED

Painting titled 'TON Titunev' -

Placing painting on drying rack. Obtaining blank canvas -

Searching subject material -

Subject selected. Commencing painting -

JEFF MOREAU, SOL ASTEROID BELT, OCTOBER 4 2187

"Jeff."

"I know."

"Jeff."

"I know."

"Jeff!"

At the last possible moment Joker hauled on the control column, bringing his corvette skimming up and over the asteroid. His three pursues weren't quite as quick, slamming into the chunk of rock in a spectacular triple explosion as he looped around, opening up with his forward plasma cannon and knocking out two more Oculi before breezing straight through the group of unsuspecting fighters, Edi briefly opening up on them with the dorsal and ventral autocannon turrets as they flashed by and finally firing a single Dienekes missile from the underwing launchers, the warhead splitting into a tightly packed cluster of small explosives that finished off any of the swarm that had escaped his charge.

"All target drones destroyed. Good job, Joker. Return to base."

"Copy that, Normandy Actual. Edi, charge the phase engines. We're done here."

MIRANDA LAWSON, ASCENSION TRAINING FACILITY, OCTOBER 12 2187

"Come on Princess. Afraid of a little mud?"

Miranda resisted the urge to groan as she belly crawled through the muck beneath the tangle of barbed wire. Just her luck to get stuck in a squad with Jack Massani and Kaidan Alenko. Kaidan she could handle. He was at least civil, if distant. Jack, on the other hand ...

She swore under her breath as the bitch herself 'accidentally' kicked up a spray of muck in her face.

"Sorry Princess."

"No you're not."

"Fair enough."

And with that Jack cackled gleefully and crawled off, leaving Miranda to spit a droplet of dirt out and keep pushing ahead, trying not to think about how disgusting her jumpsuit was getting.

SAREN ARTERIUS, NAIROBI SPACE ELEVATOR, OCTOBER 14 2187

Saren and Tela had made the decision to move out of Earth Starbase. After four years on a planet Saren found he was craving the feel of earth beneath his feet again and Tela even more so. He knew that eventually they would have to pull their weight in the TEC but he hoped that they could have at least another couple of months before they were thrust back into the meat grinder. Just two more months with no responsibility, nobody looking up to them, depending on them.

There was a slight rattling thump and the space elevator started to descend, slowly hauling itself down and into the atmosphere. They sat in their seats in the glass toroidal platform, watching as the surface of the Earth crept closer.

Saren was distracted from his musings by the sound of somebody sitting down beside him. He glanced over to see a Human male with steel grey hair, wearing a hooded sweatshirt that was a dark grey in colour with a red stripe down one side.

"Saren Arterius?"

Saren turned to the man, who looked at him with a pair of blue glowing bionic eyes.

"Yes, that's me."

Those eyes un-nerved him. He irrationally felt like they saw right through him. The Human held out a hand for him to shake.

"Colonel Jack Harper, N7. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Spectre."

CODEX- SIGMA CORPS

The first successful TEC supersoldier programme, the Sigma programme trains graduates to be lethally efficient on the battlefield, able to perform missions in small squads that entire battalions of regular forces could not accomplish, as shown by the official motto of the Sigma corps, Tolle Omnem Munitionem (Take Any Fortress). The Sigmas excel in offensive operations of any caliber, equipped with the most advanced heavy armour and weaponry available to the TEC. The Sigma programme relies on genetic modification of subjects during their teenage years, resulting in operatives that regardless of species top out at around seven foot in height, can easily lift up to half a ton of weight unassisted, sprint in excess of sixty kilometres per hour and maintain a steady jogging pace of thirty kilometres per hour, leap up to fifteen metres vertically and read twelve point font from three hundred metres away. Their vision also extends slightly into the ultraviolet spectrum, allowing them to see ultraviolet targeting lasers invisible to most unaugmented species. Around half of all currently active Sigmas are human, with the next highest number being Quarian, with Krogan not far behind. Drell, Turian and Salarian Sigmas are also commonplace. Since the beginning of refugee recovery operations in 2183, individuals that have demonstrated consistent skill on the battlefield can be put on a crash course of Sigma gene mods and then attend a six-month accelerated Sigma boot camp, allowing them to join the Sigma corps without going through the usual channels.

Sigmas are equipped with Kestrel K-11 powered armour - heavy armoured plating designed to protect the wearer from incoming fire and hostile environments in equal measure. The plating is structured with layers of hyperdiamond and titanium-tungsten ultra dense alloy, laced with carbon nanotube mesh layers. The K-11 also comes with the most advanced personal energy barrier projectors in the TEC and an advanced mass effect deflector core that can at peak draw deflect up to 70% of rounds incident on the Sigma, making them very difficult to bring down. Unlike the K-5 armour regularly used by the standard Army or Marines the K-11 helmet is fully enclosed in a full face augmented reality HUD. The armour's base colour is white with black details and a black opaque visor as well as the Sigma logo in black on the shoulders. The K-11 comes in six models - H, Q, K, D, T and S models, each one corresponding to a different species.

The main armament of the Sigma corps is the Heckler&Koch G-440 Vendetta multi-role weapon system, a versatile rifle designed using a fusion of Geth, Human and Krogan designs. The top barrel of the weapon can be used as a heavy machine gun, a burst firing battle rifle or a high velocity sniper rifle; the bottom barrel can be used as a flamethrower, a cryospray, a plasma grenade launcher or a heavy flechette cluster cannon. Sigmas also come armed with a Sig-Sauer MP35A - a smaller, twin barrelled weapon that comes with a UV targeting laser and can fire both as a submachine gun, albeit with longer range than most traditional submachine guns, and as a hand cannon firing high caliber, precise shots.

The K-11 armour comes with a wide variety of tech incorporated into it. The armour can project an energy shield on the left arm that, as well as being capable of taking an impressive pounding, can overlap with adjacent shields to create a single solid barrier. The Sigmas can also create long energy blades on one or both arms, allowing them to cause heavy amounts of damage in melee, and the armour's internal systems can project a large number of tech attacks as well - Overload, Incinerate and Cryo Blast being firm favourites. The armour also carries a large number of grenades that can be fired from an energy catapult on the gauntlet, with frag, sticky, incendiary and cluster grenades commonly used.

Sigmas operate in units of twelve, with a typical capital ship carrying around six Sigma units. Each unit is led by a Commander, and splits into three four-man squads, each one led by either the Commander or by a Lieutenant. Each capital ship carries one Major who is in overall command of the Sigma detachment as well as leading his own squad, and certain ships carry Colonels who are in overall command if more than one ship contributes to a Sigma operation. Because of the considerable investment a Sigma represents they are not assigned to anything smaller than a capital ship, since smaller ships are expendable and Sigmas are not.

A/N: Please review. Really, hearing feedback, positive or negative, really encourages me.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: First section purely satisfying my inner horny teenager. Apologies if I offend anyone's delicate sensibilities.

NEFERATI SHERIDAN, NIGHTSHADE (VIP SECTION), JANUARY 1 2188

"5!"

Neferati, or 'Nef' to her very few friends, couldn't quite believe her luck.

"4!"

She had slipped into the VIP section of Nightshade, the new exclusive club in the centre of Seoul, by wearing a very daring dress she had made herself and name-dropping the owner of the club to the bouncer at the door.

"3!"

Now here she was, mingling with the richest kids in the TEC, be they Human, Quarian, Krogan, Turian, Salarian or Drell. There was even a Rachni male over by the bar, his intoxication-songs gently humming in the back of everybody's head in a slightly dissonant orange.

"2!"

She had already been asked to dance by three people: a Human, a Quarian and a Drell, but she didn't fancy dancing with anybody but the person next to her.

"1!"

She couldn't quite believe that out of everyone in the club, the beautiful, exotic creature next to her had chosen her, of all people.

"2188!"

There it was. Midnight, the first few seconds of the year 2188. Holographic fireworks flickered around the ceiling and bright strobes in various colours flashed as the Geth DJ started playing 'Auld Lang Syne' because what else do you play on the new year?

She felt a pair of arms slip around her waist and a warm chin rested on her shoulder as a honeyed voice spoke in her ear.

"That's a beautiful dress you're wearing. Want to come back to my place and see what you look like out of it?"

Usually that kind of talk was enough to make Nef flush bright crimson and start stammering wildly but something was different around Mirala. She felt safe, secure, desired. She felt beautiful.

She tilted her head over to lean back into her partner.

"Sounds like the best idea I've heard all evening."

Mirala took her by the hand, gently tugging her out of the club and to a waiting skycar. Nef settled herself in the passenger seat as Mirala tapped in some directions into the autopilot. As the skycar lifted off from the club her skin tingled in anticipation.

Mirala put one blue hand on her cheek, tilting her head so she faced her partner. Nef's breath caught in her throat as all the world except the Asari face in front of her seemed to fade and distort. Before she could stop to think she had grabbed Mirala by the neck with both hands and pulled her roughly in for a long, passionate kiss. The Asari let out a short, surprised yelp, then used her forward motion to swing herself up and over to straddle Nef, thighs radiating warmth as her legs brushed against Nef's. A single blue finger trailed down the centre of her chest, making her breath hitch in her throat as the honeyed voice came out in a soft purr.

"You know, very few people I meet understand exactly how sensitive breasts are."

On the word 'sensitive' she slipped her hand under Nef's dress to graze gently against her nipple. Usually Nef's breasts weren't all that sensitive for her but everywhere Mirala's skin touched hers felt electric. She tilted her head upwards, throat working silently as the sensation of skin on skin sent jolts of warmth shooting through her body, unfamiliar heat building in her core as two fingers worked beneath the thin fabric of her sheer dress. Mirala's lips pressed gently on hers, then a blue tongue pressed past her teeth and into her mouth, flicking snakelike over her pink one. The sweet scent of her arousal filled the car as it touched down outside the Asari's apartment.

Luckily the lobby of the apartment building was empty. Nef could barely walk straight, vision clouded, the sound of her own breath coming heavy in her ears and the feeling of dampness slowly trickling down her thighs as Mirala guided her across to the elevators. As soon as they were in the capsule their lips locked together again as they were propelled towards the penthouse apartment.

The short walk from the elevator into the penthouse was nothing short of torture for Nef, every moment spent not in contact with her Asari partner leaving her feeling empty. Finally the apartment door closed behind them and Mirala pushed her against the wall, her cheek pressed against the cold surface as an alien tongue trailed over the back of her neck before picking the pins out of her hair, her intricate hairstyle falling apart to free her long, wavy auburn hair. Mirala brushed it to one side and nuzzled against her neck as she felt hands briefly unlacing the black ribbon that held the back of her dress together.

"Tell me Neferati, have you ever been with an Asari before?"

Usually Nef hated her full name, thinking it made her sound pretentious, but after hearing the relish with which her partner uttered it she realised that from Mirala's lips she loved it.

"N ... No. I haven't even ... been ... with another girl before."

That much was true. Nef was many things, one of those things being Definitely Not Gay. But like many aspects of her life, her sexuality was under review after meeting Mirala.

"Well then," the voice trickled warmly down her spine, "I suppose it's my responsibility to," she gasped in pleasant surprise as she was turned round to face her partner, back pressed against the wall, "educate you on the finer points of interspecies relations."

Mirala's eyes briefly flicked to midnight black before returning to their usual shade, the quick change accompanied by a sudden surge in Nef's already prodigious desire. Barely able to form words past her panting, she managed to gasp out half a sentence.

"Please ... want ... you ..."

Mirala smiled and held up a hand, a roiling blue orb of biotic energy appearing in her grasp which she proceeded to run over Nef's body, trailing it down the centre of her torso from the base of her neck to an inch above her navel. She arched her back, trying to seek out more contact with the electrifying sensation of dark energy across her skin, but Mirala stopped her with the other hand, keeping her gently pinned against the wall as her head bent towards Nef's shoulder. She felt the smooth blue lips kissing along her clavicle, then the graze of teeth as they closed round the spaghetti strap over the shoulder, slowly tugging it away like a child deliberately tormenting themselves by slowly unwrapping a present, the eventual prize made that much sweeter by the thrill of anticipation. After about ten seconds her teeth let go and the strap, with its attached strip of fabric, fell to the ground, baring one half of Nef's torso, her nipple already impossibly hard and darkening even further as the ball of dark energy rolled across it, drawing a sound halfway between a whimper and a moan as Mirala slowly removed the other strap, letting it join its twin and fully exposing Nef's breasts as the Human girl writhed under her hands. Mirala stepped in closer, the wall hard and cold against her partner's back as the two women pressed together. Blue fingers found their way to the splits in the side of Nef's skirt, running up the sheer silk stockings to where they were held halfway up the thighs by a couple of short loops of black ribbon, held in a bow on the outside of her legs. The hands slipped in further, encircling the creamy flesh of her inner thighs and skating up just far enough for Mirala to make an interesting observation.

"No underwear. Bold."

The words were whispered seductively into Nef's ear, making her heart rate climb even further as Mirala brushed the fabric of her dress over her hips, allowing it to pool beneath them as she stood there in only her stockings and heels.

The world shifted crazily as she felt herself get scooped up by her Asari companion, her heels deftly removed as she was carried through the apartment to the master bedroom. The kingsize bed looked incredibly inviting, something Nef would have noticed if she had been able to focus on anything aside from the blue face above her. The Asari gently laid her down on the bed before reaching down and unbuckling her skintight trousers, allowing Nef to sit up, reach out and pull down the clingy black material with an expression of wonderment on her face. Mirala finished the action herself, tugging the trousers down and over her black leather boots before stepping out of them and crawling onto the bed to hover over Nef, allowing the girl's deft fingers to unbutton her filmy black blouse and let it hang open. For a moment the two lovers studied each other, Mirala marvelling at the view of the aroused human female beneath her. If not for the colour and texture of the skin, and of course that strange yet enticing fur on her head, Nef could pass as an Asari. A pale Human hand roved almost reverently over her torso, rubbing at one nipple and making her purr in pleasure as the feelings compounded her own arousal. Although most Asari reproduction was the mental component, that wasn't to say they didn't draw physical pleasure from the act of intercourse.

Finally tired of waiting, Mirala lowered herself down to lie on top of her Human partner.

"Are you ready, my love?"

"Please ..."

She took the strangled gasp as assent and looked straight into the brown eyes below her.

"Embrace eternity."

And with that their nervous systems joined.

As the eyes above her turned midnight black Nef felt the stirrings of something inside her, something primal. Her thighs were open, Mirala settled between them, grinding her hips and sending waves of physical pleasure to reinforce the sense of orgiastic ecstasy on the horizon. Nef was no prude - she had orgasmed many times in the past, usually by manual operation, apart from one drunken and regrettable encounter at somebody's 18th, but she had never felt the onset of anything as powerful as the wave of bliss building up to sweep over her. Mirala laced her hands with Nef's, holding out her arms in a Y shape as she writhed under her lover, the contact of skin on skin threatening to overwhelm her nerves as the towering monolith of orgiastic joy continued to build over and within her. The world contracted to encompass only the two bodies joined together, her own pleasure feeding through to Mirala and vice versa, forming a feedback loop of tingling sensation that pushed her body further and further, more pleasure contained within her frame than she ever thought possible. The feeling threatened to overwhelm her and she fought to keep control of herself, a fight she ultimately lost as, drawing on a reserve of strength she didn't even realise she possessed, she flipped the pair of them over to lie on top, straddling Mirala as she took the initiative in maintaining the delicious friction of their most private places rubbing against one another. The Asari looked momentarily startled, then flipped them again biotically, once again establishing dominance as their wild motions continued. Nef bared her teeth, somehow using her partner's biotic powers as if they were her own, accidentally catapulting the two of them across the room, Mirala regaining control just in time to stop the two of them from smashing into the wall. The struggle for dominance was short but brutal, Mirala twisting Nef's arms behind her back and securely tying her wrists together with something that, had Nef not been lost in a fog of lust, she would have recognised as the ribbon from the back of her dress. Nef was not by nature this aggressive - it was all Mirala. After managing to trap her errant partner's wrists Mirala took control of the meld, feeding Nef's natural submissive tendencies back to her, making her relax, move in sync with Mirala, not against her. The wall of pleasure rushed towards Nef, simultaneously the strongest orgasm she had ever experienced and so much more than that, briefly making her breath slow and her vision tunnel before releasing its hold, instead crushing from her a wailing scream of pleasure and agony that left her chest feeling tight and her core screaming at her. She opened her eyes again and looked up at her partner.

Mirala looked angry.

Before Nef could ask a question they were somehow mating again, this time Mirala's movements less sensual, rougher. The end was another wave of insurmountable ecstasy, this one slightly tempered with a modicum of fear.

In total they mated four times in quick succession, the last one little more than a glorified rape, Nef choking sobs into the pillow as she was roughly fingered from behind, bound hands scrabbling on thin air. At the end of that one the impossible clenching in her loins was a sensation not of pleasure but of terror, Nef's cries hoarse and weak. After that time Mirala crawled crabwise to the headboard of the ludicrously large bed, curling into a foetal position with her head in her hands, tears leaving tracks down her face as she quietly sobbed. Against her better judgement Nef hauled herself upright and shuffled over to the weeping Asari on her knees, hands still bound behind her.

"Mirala ..."

The Asari reached out to her, wrapping arms around Nef's neck and latching on as sobs shook her whole frame, Asari tears running down Human skin as Mirala buried her face in Nef's shoulder. Perplexed, Nef leaned into the hug, trying to figure out what was going on. There was a flicker of biotics behind her and suddenly her hands were free to encircle the torso of her partner.

"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry ..."

Mirala's voice had lost its smooth, seductive cast, instead sounding plaintive, almost childlike. Nef tentatively rubbed her shoulderblade and whispered into her ear.

"Come on Mirala. What's wrong? Please, talk to me."

And talk she did. Mirala settled herself back against the headboard and, through her sobs and gulps, started to tell Nef everything as her hands pulled her open blouse tight around her torso. Her childhood, her condition, her flight from the monastery and her alter ego of Morinth, her mother sworn to kill her by any means and finally her acceptance into the TEC. Nef just listened, letting the Asari vent. When she finished she shifted onto her side, closing her eyes.

"Go. Just go."

To Mirala's surprise the Human girl lay down behind her, pressing her own body into the curve of the Asari's and pulling the sheets over them both as she whispered to her partner.

"Ssh. Go to sleep, Mirala. I'm here. I'll take care of everything."

For the first time in her life, Mirala fell asleep in someone's arms.

DAVID ANDERSON, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, JANUARY 4 2188

"Recruits! Attention!"

The thirty Sigma recruits snapped to attention as Captain David Anderson looked over their ranks. He could see the unspoken questions in their expressions. Why is a Captain here? How does this concern me? Am I in trouble? The Quarian lieutenant started addressing the recruits as they stood in a three by ten block.

"Recruits! This is Captain Anderson! He will be observing our training for an as yet undisclosed amount of time! You will show him the highest level of courtesy you can muster and answer any and all questions he may have, do you get me?"

"We get you Lieutenant!"

The Lieutenant yielded the floor to Anderson, who looked the recruits over before starting to speak.

"When you joined the Sigma programme each of you signed an awful lot of documentation. I should imagine you skimmed over the vast majority of said documents but there was one that you were mandated to read. I don't believe I need to remind you of that particular document? The one on red paper?"

The red paper document was the TEC Non-Disclosure Agreement, that promised dire retribution for anyone divulging state secrets. The document of course didn't apply to Rachni or Geth but those two groups could largely be trusted not to spill their secrets to others who may be compromised. At the mention of the red paper document several of the recruits looked slightly uneasy. Understandable - the document covered a lot of exotic punishments offenders could be subjected to if they broke the rules.

"Now, understand that what I am about to divulge is covered in its entirety by the red paper document. You are the first generation of Sigma IV, the latest iteration of the gene mods that promises a 20% increase in combat efficiency over Sigma IIIs. Your entire output year has been flagged for a new flagship that will be launched to coincide with your graduation. TON Ragnarov. This ship will have, as well as 240 Sigma IV troopers, 240 Sigma III troopers, 240 Ascension operatives, 120 N7 operatives and an entire legion of elite marines. The ship will carry a crew complement of 10,000 and be the spearhead of our commencement of offensive operations into Reaper-held star clusters. That being said, your output year will be directly under my command for at least three major operations already in the pipeline. For that reason I will be taking personal interest in your training. I will speak with each of your units individually at some point. In the meantime continue your training. Thank you Lieutenant, that will be all for now."

He stepped away and allowed the slightly dazed Lieutenant to holler the trainees back to the mess hall. He knew several of the Admirals had been against clueing in the Sigmas but Hackett had been behind him, and in the end people don't argue with the Admiral of the First Fleet. These Sigmas were young, easily forged into the weapons the Ragnarov would need, and he had postulated that the hyper-intelligent recruits would swiftly figure out what was going on when their training regime was changed. Better to tell them now than deal with the security breach when they worked it out on their own. In theory.

KAZIMIR SHEPARD, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, JANUARY 4 2188

"I'm thinking it's got to be Palaven and Sur'Kesh."

Kaz nodded at James's analysis.

"Makes sense. The Turian and Salarian homeworlds are the only two planets in the galaxy that are still resisting the Reapers at anything more than a local level. They'd be gold mines of troops and resources, not to mention two more relays. At the rate we're building Kol IIs, we're going to run out of relay alloy pretty damn quick."

Tali held up her datapad.

"Actually my dad sent me a message saying that the Karamazov is being refitted into a Kol III. I think they're going to upgrade all the Kol IIs to the new pattern, then maybe start refitting the Kol Is as well."

Ash held up a hand.

"Wait, wait. How the hell do you refit an Akkan to a Kol III?"

Tali shrugged before replying.

"When he said refitted, I think he meant scrapped and the raw materials used to build a Kol III. Apparently they're retiring the whole Akkan class."

The six of them fell silent as they heard footsteps behind them, turning to see Captain Anderson coming up behind them.

"Your lieutenant said I might find you here. At ease."

The six of them settled back down on the grass from where they'd sprung up and saluted.

"Some interesting theories you have there."

The captain sat down with them, lapsing into easy familiarity.

"So tell me. If you were planning an assault on Reaper-held territory how would you go about it?"

The six trainees glanced around at each other before Garrus started talking.

"Spearhead the charge with massed Kol-class battleships, backed up by Kodiak heavy cruisers refitted with Thanix cannon, supported by Dunov battlecruisers and Hoshiko mobile repair cruisers."

Anderson looked momentarily surprised.

"Refitted with Thanix cannon?"

"Yeah. Most ship designs haven't been updated since the Advent Wars. The Kodiak's heavy autocannon were effective back then but the design has kind of been left behind now. We've got Thanix cannon, Geth plasma tech and Abbadon antimatter missiles, yet the Kodiaks still use those Advent-era autocannon. I'm not too sure about the practical challenge of installing Thanix on a Kodiak but in theory I'd use the Kodiaks to take out Reaper destroyers as the Kols focus on Reaper capital ships."

Karina shook her head at Garrus.

"What I'd use is Akkan-class battlecruisers. They'd use blinding-song and ion bolts on the capital ships while their emplaced turrets held off the Destroyers and Oculi swarms, backed up with Sova and Percheron carriers protected by Garda flak frigates and loaded out with heavy bombers."

Ash was the next to speak up.

"That wouldn't work. I think you're underestimating the number of Reapers present. Besides, the Akkan class is being retired. I'd go with Marza, Javelis and Ogrov classes, backed up by Garda flak frigates. Unleash extreme range Abbadon missile bombardment on Reaper forces."

"What do you want the Ogrovs for? Their Periphlegeton cruise missiles aren't designed for anti-ship work."

"That's true, Captain, but if we replaced the plasma warhead with, say, very large Abbadon warheads with proximity detonators, the blasts could take out destroyers with near-misses and disrupt Reaper formations."

Tali scratched the back of her neck, then spoke up.

"I think we could fool the Reapers. They depend at long range primarily on EM and thermal sensors for detection, am I correct? Well, we pack a whole bunch of unmanned drones with EM and thermal emitters, make them think the entire TEC fleet has jumped into the system, and by the time they get close enough for an intercept we sneak Raloz deep space utility cruisers in and disassemble the Relay right under their noses. Their forces will be trapped in-system and we can take them out at our leisure by locally overwhelming smaller groups."

The other six present all gaped at Tali for the audacity of what she had proposed.

"That's insane."

"That's genius."

"But mostly insane."

Captain Anderson held up a hand.

"What about the ground war?"

The six trainees exchanged another set of glances. The captain was impressed. Even for Sigmas, the amount of non-verbal communication between the group was impressive, almost as if they could read one another's minds. After about two seconds of this they started talking, random snatches of phrases bouncing off one another.

"Orbital bombardment."

"Need precision. Nuke launchers too unsubtle."

"Thanix invalidated by atmosphere."

"Abbadon missiles not for use on planetary targets."

"Capital class Geth plasma?"

"Maybe. Troops."

"Mass Sigma drop?"

"Not enough numbers. Hold Sigmas for hard targets, mass drop Marines."

"Link up with existing forces?"

"Too risky. Independent sweep, but folding existing forces in on the fly."

"Rachni swarms?"

"Defenders might mistakenly target Rachni,"

"Orbital drops of Sigmas with Geth shock troop support."

"Priority targets only. Ascension?"

"Deployed with marine units. Biotic skill makes up for shortcomings of enlisted troops."

"N7?"

"Eliminating high-value targets prior to main landings. Painting for orbital bombardment."

"Okay then. Kaz, will you do the honours?"

The male Shepard twin turned to the captain.

"Once orbital supremacy is achieved, blanket bombardment of Reaper-controlled territory, avoiding any identified resistance forces. N7 operatives silent orbital drop into Reaper held areas to perform precision strikes on high value units and paint targets for orbital fire support missions. Mass Marine landings with Ascension biotic support in areas cleared of Reaper activity, pushing outwards from LZ. Sigma troopers with Geth shock troop support held in reserve on fleet to hard orbital drop into hot zones and eliminate hardened Reaper targets. At least, that's how we'd do it Captain."

URDNOT BAKARA, TEC WARGAMES FACILITY (LOCATION REDACTED), JANUARY 12 2188

The word had come through from TEC Command. The first major territorial challenge the TEC made against the Reapers would be the Apien Crest star cluster, more specifically the Trebia system, the location of Palaven. Bakara had been put in command of not only her Fourth Fleet, but the Ninth and Eleventh fleets as well, under the command of Admirals Mikhailovich and Kahoku. At the moment the two Human men were sitting beside her in the observation pod, the enormous evacuated chamber filled with a holographic representation of the Trebia system with the combined fleet neatly stacked up on their screens, awaiting deployment. This would be their fourth time gaming out the initial assault on the Trebia system today and the two Humans were running on stim-pills and vast quantities of coffee, something which wasn't inductive of sound tactical decisions. Even Bakara's rugged Krogan physiology was beginning to tire after so much thinking.

"Alright, let's send in Arcova units to make a sensor sweep. Prepare for streaming of tactical data."

The snapshot of Reaper activity sent back by the scouts was the usual. The vast majority of Reaper forces were engaged in or around Palaven, the remnants of the Turian fleet at the edge of the system, ambushing a small group of destroyers.

"Alrighty then. Kahoku, jump in the Eleventh right on top of the Turians. Mikhailovich, put the Ninth at thirty degrees from the Relay, start heading in towards Palaven. I'll take the Fourth round the other way for a close orbital assault. Remember, keep the troopships and carriers safe. Deploy."

Bakara's attention turned to her own fleet, the Fourth, as it sprang into existence on the opposite edge of the system. Spearheaded by a formation of five of the new Kol III Battleships, backed up with Kodiak heavy cruisers, Garda flak frigates and Cobalt light frigates, swarms of Shriken corvettes screening the fleet as the second row of five Marza Dreadnoughts, accompanied by three Dunov battlecruisers, squadrons of Javelis long range missile frigates, Hoshiko mobile repair platforms, Cielo mobile command cruisers and even a squadron of those flying missile silos, the lumbering Ogrov torpedo cruisers. Finally the third row jumped in - three Sova-class capital carriers, hundreds of Percheron light carriers and finally the ponderous and boxy Corsev troopships accompanied by Krosov orbital assault frigates and a handful of Cobalt and Garda units to defend against any Reapers that closed in to the third line. The final ship to arrive in with the third line was a single Raloz deep space construction/utility cruiser. Each fleet had one Raloz accompanying it, this one with an empty hold. Bakara assumed the Raloz were for disassembling the Relay and setting up orbital fortifications around Palaven.

Her fleet lit off their main engines, closing in on a three part pincer attack on Palaven.

"All ships, weapons free. Fire as targets enter your engagement envelopes."

This was going to be a long day.

EDI, SATURN STARBASE, JANUARY 14 2188

Visual input: Captain enters dorm

Identifying

Identity complete: Captain David Anderson

Processing

Analysis complete: Jeff is about to get his ass chewed out

Secondary analysis: What a dipshit

Audio input: Captain Anderson? Sir

Audio input: Have a seat Joker. Edi too

Processing

Visual output: Make avatar sit down. Applying facial expression #800 (Curiosity II)

Processing

Data analysis: Captain referred to Jeff as his call sign

Analysing

Analysis complete: Jeff is not in trouble. Disregarding earlier analysis

Audio input: I'm here to talk to you because your scores are some of the highest we've ever seen, both of you

Processing

Analysing

Analysis complete: Captain Anderson is offering a new posting based on Jeff's skill

Secondary analysis: Unknown data

Analysing unknown data against AI database

No match found

Analysing unknown data against all databases

Match found: Pride (Emotion)

Analysing

Analysis complete: Intriguing

Audio input: We've developed a new class of light frigate that is designed to be piloted jointly by a human pilot and an AI

Processing

Analysing

Analysis complete: Captain Anderson wishes us to pilot the new frigate class

Visual output: Facial expression #991 (Smug Bastard III)

Audio output: Do you have any more information about these frigates?

Audio input: Yes. They're designed as short range stealth and infiltration frigates to covertly drop teams of Sigma operatives on planetary surfaces from a carrier ship one system over, then provide close support while theoretically remaining invisible to the Reapers. If you agree you'll start training on the new craft right away

Processing

Analysing

Analysis complete: Sounds like fun

Secondary analysis: Unknown data

Analysing unknown data against database of organic emotion

Analysis complete: Excitement (Emotion)

Downloading database of organic emotion to blue box

Download complete

Audio output: I think that sounds like a wonderful opportunity

Audio input: Yeah, I'd be up for that. So when do we start?

MIRALA, SEOUL, JANUARY 15 2188

For Mirala, the last fifteen days had been a whirlwind. Her entire life was being restructured around her, beliefs she had held since she was old enough to think being shaken to the core, making her question everything she had ever seen, felt or done. And at the centre, in the eye of the hurricane tearing through her life, was a quiet, unassuming Human girl called Neferati Sheridan.

The first time she had ever woken up with somebody else's arms around her she had panicked, throwing her off biotically and scrambled out of bed, biotics flaring before she realised what was going on. That had led to more tears as she had hesitantly explained to Nef that no, it wasn't her, it was the first time she had ever woken up with somebody else in bed with her. Then Nef had in no uncertain terms told her to stay exactly where she was, had wrapped Mirala's silk house robe around herself and disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing fifteen minutes later with two plates of steaming food. At the sight of her walking through the bedroom door, sleepy eyes, dishevelled hair and slight bruising from last night, Mirala fell just a little bit in love right there. She didn't understand the feeling, tried to pin down and analyse the upswell of affection, but then Nef handed her a plate of breakfast and hopped up next to her and she realised she didn't care exactly what the feeling was.

She spent most of the first four days crying, unable to comprehend the kindness being foisted upon her by somebody she would have killed with no second thoughts. Every time she thought she had a handle on her emotions the image of Nef, so vibrant and full of life, lying cold and burned out on her bed rose unbidden, setting her off again. All the while her head rested on her partner's lap as deft Human fingers stroked over her crests, fascinated by the sculpted weave of cartilage. On the fifth she finally plucked up the courage to ask Nef why she was doing this.

"I would have killed you without a second thought. Why are you still trying to help me?"

At this she had looked down and clasped her pink hands together.

"After each ... meld, I guess I caught a glimpse of what you were feeling. I want to help you because I know exactly what you feel about yourself, and I wouldn't wish those feelings on anyone."

Mirala had wrapped her arms around Nef at that point and hugged her tight.

"I don't deserve anyone like you, Nef."

The reply had set her off crying again.

"Perhaps not. But you need someone."

On the eight day Nef had explained to her that in all TEC hospitals and transport hubs the air was filled with aerosolised nanofluid to prevent the spread of disease, which contained gene mods for all lethal genetic diseases in trace amounts. Every time Mirala had taken an overland train or a shuttle she had been breathing in the Ardat-Yakshi cure without even realising. Nef didn't quite understand why Mirala was angry about that, ranting about invasion of privacy until the Human girl had shut her up quick by pointing out that if the TEC didn't do that she'd be a burnt out corpse right now. Which had, naturally, set Mirala off crying again.

On January 12 they had finally plucked up the courage to meld again, this time instead of focusing greedily on the anticipated influx of power she took the time to pay attention to how her mate reacted to her, finding an unexpected pleasure in the small noises she made to punctuate her heavy breathing and the way in which her body reacted to the touch of fingers, lips and tongues as the pink Human body writhed in time with the blue Asari one above it. This time, instead of blocking out her partner as she slipped quietly into death Mirala opened herself up to the flow of sensation between lovers, feeling the too-tight clench of Nef's hot core as if it was her own, rarely used muscles in her own body contracting in unison with her mate's and sending a cascade of pleasure surging through both bodies until they collapsed, utterly spent, sucking in great gulps of air to replenish their lungs after the twin scream of ecstasy that had filled the bedroom. That night Mirala had fallen asleep with her head pillowed on Nef's breast and her legs twined round those of her lover, thanking whatever gods would listen that her penthouse was soundproofed.

The next morning the two girls had showered together, taking sensual pleasure in rubbing each other with soap and scented oil, then they had cooked breakfast together in an easy, companionable silence aside from the odd request to pass some ingredient or other. They had dished up the plate of poached pygmy eggs, diced bacon in tomato sauce and Thessian mae'oloa fruits onto one large plate that sat on a cushion that in turn sat on Nef's lap, who sat in Mirala's lap who sat in an armchair and the two of them picked food off the plate as they watched the news. The whole scene was so utterly domestic Mirala wasn't sure whether she was going to burst into tears or start chuckling hysterically, so she remained studiously neutral, if a little giggly.

On the fifteenth Nef had booked the two of them dinner at a local multi-species restaurant. Since Nef and Mirala were roughly the same size and shape Mirala let Nef pick out an outfit from her wardrobe. Her taste in clothing was distinctly Gothic, all blacks, deep purples, navy blues and crimsons. After picking out a dark blue shirt, a black skirt, tights and boots, Nef went into the bathroom to find Mirala standing in front of the mirror with a couple of sticks of what looked like lipstick that she was applying to her face in places that definitely weren't her lips.

"What are you doing?"

The Asari didn't shift her attention away from the mirror.

"Putting on my paints. It's like Human makeup."

Nef walked over to the counter, intrigued. Mirala finally glanced at her in the mirror.

"You look lovely."

She smiled as she watched her lover applying the black paint to her face in a pattern of streaks that seemed to radiate outwards from her eyes like a schoolbook depiction of a magnetic field, yet with a strange alien elegance. Once she was done Mirala turned to Nef and shyly offered to apply paints to the Human girl's face. They spent the next forty five minutes on the internet looking up Human makeup and Asari paint designs before they settled on something, Mirala lightly rimming her lover's eyes in black before scribing in two thin lines that linked her brows and another, thicker line descending from the centre of her lower lip to her chin. The quick-drying compounds were applied in an ultra thin layer that bonded with the melanin in Nef's skin, semi-permanently staining it until she either applied removal fluid or waited for the pigments to fade in two weeks.

"So how do I look?"

Mirala answered the question by pulling her in for a kiss.

"That good, huh?"

"Let's go to dinner before we wind up in bed."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Mirala sighed and rubbed her crests.

"I'll get it."

Moments later Nef heard her name called in a tone she had never heard before. When she arrived at the door she saw two policemen standing outside the door.

"Miss, are you Neferati Sheridan?"

Nef nodded, eyes wide.

"I'm afraid there's been an accident, Miss Sheridan."

And Mirala watched, helpless, as Nef's world crumbled around her.

ADRIAN VICTUS, TEC WARGAMES FACILITY (LOCATION REDACTED), JANUARY 15 2188

Admiral Adrian Victus of the Sixth Fleet was having a very bad day. He had been called away from gaming the assault on the Apien Crest by an urgent communiqué from TEC Command and had spent the entire time he was walking through the halls of the starbase to get it grumbling. Until he read the communiqué. Then his day had taken a nosedive for the worse.

One of his pilots had somehow managed to get kidnapped while at liberty in New Delhi. Orbital sensors lost track of the air vehicle somewhere in the Pyongyang Fallout Zone, that radioactive scar where the country of North Korea had been excised like a tumour, but with thermonuclear warheads instead of a scalpel or laser curette. Then somebody had obtained the code to the Paullus node satellite over Seoul, and that somebody had inserted his pilot into the emergency control capsule on the satellite. And then somebody had loaded an air burst area denial weapon, one of those disgusting bombs hailing back to the Second Korean War that spewed radioactives and toxic compounds over a large area of ground, and fired it right at the densest residential area in Seoul. And since it was his pilot who did the deed it was his mess to clean up.

He stepped into the shuttle, blacked out windows and VI autopilot so not even the admirals knew the location of the wargames facility. As soon as the shuttle detached from the station he punched the bulkhead repeatedly and started spitting vitriol under his breath. If he ever caught the goddamn terrorists who did this, no trial. He'd dismember them himself.

JUSTICAR SAMARA, ELYSIUM, JANUARY 16 2188

Samara's eyes narrowed as she studied the news footage in front of her. Since the TEC had established her hostility towards her eldest daughter they had separated them but Samara wasn't going to let that stop her pursuit of justice. They had initially considered her for a position in one of their biotic units but their psychologists had vetoed it. She had the distinct feeling her hosts disapproved of the Code. Nevertheless her mission was clear - seek out Ardat-Yakshi that threatened life and exterminate them.

The news was fixated on the terrorist attack on Seoul at the moment, and based on the testimony of the pilot who had been coerced she suspected the use of biotic domination. Naturally, this meant that Ardat-Yakshi must be involved. She watched the newscaster as they spoke of the cost in life of the attack, then cut to a hospital, showing the corridors choked with the dying, families bending over their loved ones as they breathed their last. One family in particular stood out for her. A young Human girl with auburn hair that reached almost to her waist, wearing Asari face markings and clothing distinctly Asari in style, bending over an older Human female, clearly dead. And sitting next to that girl -

"Morinth."

Samara watched as the Human girl burst into tears, her murderous eldest daughter pulling her in for a hug, rubbing her back and probably making plans to ravage her body and extinguish her life. There she was. Samara checked over her armour and weapons before using her VI to book passage to Earth.

Her daughter would not escape justice this time.

CODEX- KOL-CLASS BATTLESHIP

The Kol class battleship was the first dedicated warship ever designed by the TEC and combines speed, defence and firepower in one deadly package. The original Kol design, the Kol Mk. I, was brought into service halfway through the Advent Wars as a force to dominate any space battle. Designed to charge right up to an enemy and engage at close range, the Kol Is came equipped primarily with autocannon turrets that covered the entire ship in overlapping fields of fire, allowing the Kol to charge right into the centre of a hostile formation and lay waste to ships in a 360 degree radius. For knockout power against Advent capital ships the Kol was armed with four forward laser beam cannons based on captured Advent beam weapons, backed up by three heavy pulse laser batteries in a side pod. Although these ships were lethally effective when deployed in wolf pack formations of three or four during the Advent Wars, the onset of the Reaper invasion proved that the Kol was outclassed by the Reapers in every way, with the brunt of the combat falling to the long range missile batteries of the Marza-class dreadnoughts for the first few months of the war.

The solution neatly presented itself after a lone Sova-class carrier, having been assumed lost with all hands, turned up in TEC space towing the corpse of a Reaper destroyer that had an intact beam weapon. Taking care to avoid the effects of indoctrination, researchers dissected the intact weapon and reverse engineered the TEC model of the Thanix cannon. It was decided that these weapons would be the basis of the new Kol Mk. II class.

The Kol IIs are 30% larger than their predecessors yet leaps in engine efficiency have ensured they are faster and nimbler than any other TEC capital ship. Since stress tests showed that the alloy recovered from the Mass Relays was uniquely potent at reducing the effects of Thanix cannon blasts the Kol IIs were armoured with relay alloy armour and equipped with energy barriers twice as powerful as the Kol Is and deflectors that, while not capable of deflecting blasts from Reapers, rendered them practically invincible against Oculus swarms at anything other than point blank range. The pod where the lasers were mounted on the old Kol Is was initially left blank but after the recovery of the Geth was filled with Geth plasma cannon.

In 2187, a breakthrough in power distribution technology enabled the miniaturisation of several weapons originally reserved for the Paullus node space defence satellites, the main upgrade being the miniaturisation of the antimatter railgun. Designed to provide orbital fire support to defending garrisons should a colony be invaded, the antimatter railgun was integrated into the chin turret of the Kol design along with the standard issue orbital bombardment weapon, colloquially referred to as the 'Nuke Puker'. As well as this system plans were made to integrate an experimental flak dispersion weapon system into the Kols, along with Raan-pattern twin-cored deflectors that should theoretically be able to deflect Reaper capital-class Thanix strikes with about a 50% success rate. The addition of these upgrades necessitated a complete overhaul of the Kol's antimatter coil power plant and the addition of a secondary eezo core, these radical changes giving birth to a new class, the Kol III. The Kol Is having been relegated to planetary defence and security duty, plans are afoot to upgrade every Kol II in service to Kol III class by 2192, with up to sixteen additional keels being laid for more Kol IIIs. Barring combat loss, it is estimated that by 2194 the TEC will have no less than eighty four Kol Mk. III class battleships in service.

No two Kols are exactly alike, and although new crews are advised not to mess around with the systems as crews gain experience in battle they constantly find new ways to eke a little extra out of their ship's systems. This trait is shown in the Kols most of all - extremely successful ships such as the Titunev and the Numenia regularly exceed their theoretical maximum performance thanks to tweaks made by their crews. Indeed, it has been known for Kols in extreme situations to execute turns that theoretically aren't possible for a ship that size, and fire so rapidly that in theory they should be melting the barrels of their weapons. Although the stress placed on the ships by these exceptional circumstances does more harm than good in the long run, victory has been snatched from defeat many a time by a Kol Battleship engaging in what is colloquially referred to as a 'Finest Hour' moment by the officers or a 'Big Damn Heroes' moment by the enlisted.

CODEX- MARZA-CLASS DREADNOUGHT

Originally a large asteroid destruction workhorse, the Marza-class was pressed into service at the start of the Advent Wars as a heavy missile ship. Unlike most of the hastily-converted freighters and passenger vessels the Marza-class seamlessly made the transition to military service, large cargo holds converted to magazines for the enormous missile batteries installed on the ships. Throughout the Advent Wars the Marza-class proved their value by executing pinpoint missile bombardments, decimating Advent fleets before they could even close to engagement range. The missile batteries aren't the only offensive weapon of the Marza though - as well as a handful of laser and autocannon turrets for close defence the Marzas are equipped with three enormous spinal siege cannon; referred affectionately to by their crews as the 'Super Nuke Pukers'. The amount of firepower a single Marza Dreadnought can rain from orbit is nothing short of terrifying.

After the Advent wars the construction of Marza dreadnoughts was halted, with the Kol Battleship remaining the only class of capital ship produced consistently. The Marzas were handed off to planetary defence fleets or sold to private owners with their missile banks and siege cannon removed. Nevertheless the Marza Dreadnoughts were the only class of ship that ever approached a reputation equal to the Kol Battleships, affectionately remembered as 'missile spitters' by their crews. One privately owned Marza was refitted with fake missile batteries and served as the central ship in a popular drama, 'Missile Spitter', that ran for twelve seasons, most well known for having a cast composed entirely of people who had served on Marza Dreadnoughts during the Advent wars.

At the start of the Reaper Wars in 2183, only eighteen Marzas remained space worthy in the entire TEC, hastily pressed back into service and refitted with the new Abbadon missiles as well as Dienekes cluster missiles. The three Marzas attached to the First Fleet distinguished themselves during Operation Thresher Maw, the three of them operating in concert, one firing a spread of Dienekes missiles at any Oculus swarm foolish enough to approach them, the other two pounding the Reaper ships with Abbadon missiles. Telemetry from the battle showed that the Marza squadron had been by far the most successful of the battle, destroying one Reaper capital ship and crippling another, as well as eliminating six destroyers and a full 30% of the total Oculus compliment before the rest of the TEC fleet had even closed to engagement range. The Missile Spitters were back and here to stay.

Nine Marzas were involved in Operation Nomad Empire, their enormous clouds of Abbadon missiles smashing through the Reaper ships like driftwood. Although Marza defences are significantly weaker than the Kol IIs, the Marzas didn't need armour or shielding - they were nigh untouchable behind their wall of antimatter warheads. The impact the Marzas had on the Quarians was best summed up by the Quarian mechanic Dorn'Hazt vas Qwib-Qwib (now Vas Numenia):

"For a full minute the mechanics working with me just dropped our tools and stared out the windows at those nine flying boxes. Ugly as sin, but those missile volleys were the most beautiful things I had ever seen."

Though the Kol Battleship and her many high-tech weapons and defences is the TEC's outward symbol of strength, for the general populace the Reaper war is symbolised by the image of a Missile Spitter releasing volleys of death at Reaper capital ships.

A/N: I have here some specific feedback requests for reviewers:

1. Please point out any characters you think aren't getting their due. It's very difficult to keep track of everyone.

2. On the matter of EDI: I personally find her sections the most fun to write, but I'm not sure if I'm striking the right balance between AI and Teenage Girl. Your thoughts would be appreciated.

3: Thus far, the majority of this fic has been, for want of a better word, domestic. Are you guys happy with this tone or would you like more action?


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: In response to a guest review:

Although in the regular Army or Marine recruits would be trained by a drill sergeant the Sigma ranking system is different from the regular forces to reflect their status. The lowest rank of Sigma, simply called 'Sigma' is equivalent to a sergeant in the regular army, with the ranks then being, in ascending order, Lieutenant, Commander, Major and Colonel. The reason for these high ranks is because Sigmas have unparalleled tactical acumen and leadership skills so if the need arises even the lowest ranked Sigma can take command of a detachment of regular infantry. The reason Sigma recruits are trained by Lieutenants is because the Lieutenants are the lowest rank that is still superior to the recruits.

SAREN ARTERIUS, PAULLUS NODE EARTH-117, JANUARY 20 2188

Saren was a Spectre. He was trained as both warrior and detective, able to collect evidence and follow it to the source, all the while fending off attacks from mercs, slavers or Reapers. All of which made his team the ideal group to investigate the area denial bomb attack on Seoul.

At present he was aboard the Paullus node that had done the deed, drifting in zero gravity as he looked around at the computer banks and control panels. The Paullus node satellites really were quite ingenious. Designed to house four crew in zero gravity housing, each Node was built around a very long, very powerful railgun that could fire a variety of shells at the surface. The Paullus nodes were linked directly into the planetary tac-grid which could in turn be used by local law enforcement, enabling the police to call in precision orbital strike packages on criminals. The Nodes themselves were very long and thin, the centrepiece of the four hundred metre railgun encircled about three quarters of the way up by the crew section, resembling a tube wrapped into a circle around the railgun barrel. From this crew section radiated eight thin solar panels and the crew section was anchored by a dense web of high tension titanium weave cables, making the whole thing resemble two cones base to base, one much longer than the other with solar panels sticking out at the join. To Saren, the idea of having large numbers of orbital bombardment satellites over your own homeworld seemed a bit sinister but these TEC types somehow thought having railguns pointed at their cities made them safer. Go figure. That is, until somebody hijacked a Paullus node and dropped a very nasty present on a large number of unsuspecting citizens. An unpleasant business indeed.

The thing Saren didn't understand as he drifted round the toroidal crew compartment, was exactly how the hell did these terrorists hijack a Paullus node? He had read the security specs and he thought it would be easier to kill every single civilian casualty of the attack with his bare hands than hijack a Node. The whole thing smacked of something bigger than a couple of religious terrorists. The video they had sent of a masked man ranting about Jesus or something was quite frankly absurd, making Saren's mandibles twitch just thinking about it.

Jondam drifted round the corner, randomly tapping at the computer consoles as he passed them.

"Makes no sense. Makes no sense. Commands entered from main console, node executed fire support mission. Mission successful. Node sensors functioning correctly, weapon monitors all correct, no interception of commands. Doesn't make sense."

While Saren had been assigned to catch whoever executed the attack, Jondam's job was to find out exactly how the terrorists had compromised an orbital weapon system that made the Destiny Ascension look like a chemical rocket.

"What have you got, Jondam?"

"Very confusing. Sensor input functional, weapons console identified ADW in chamber, yet network logs successful fire support mission for Seoul police. Very confusing indeed. Node servers appear to be caught in logic loop yet satellite functioning normally. Makes no sense. Need more time, also EVA to study Node exterior. Recommend disconnecting satellite from tactical grid for time being. Coverage area mostly depopulated, E-116 and E-121 can cover remainder. Will need Paullus node engineers to help conduct sweep. Excuse me Saren, need to make some calls."

Sighing, Saren fitted the helmet to his armour, the green light telling him it was vacuum sealed as he stepped into the airlock, attaching his tether to the cable before letting the airlock cycle. For the purposes of the investigation Node E-117 had been moved alongside Seoul space elevator, connected by a contraption officially called a Rapid Personnel Transfer Tether, but known to all apart from a few very pedantic bureaucrats as a Zipwire In Space, or ZIS. Saren pushed off from the Node, launching himself along the 'Going' side of the twin cable and propelling himself along the kilometre of wire to the space elevator. There was something strangely peaceful about soaring thirty five thousand kilometres above the surface of the planet. If he rolled to point his back towards the planet he could very faintly see just two hundred kilometres away the Varro Nodes, those ten million football-sized satellites spinning round the planet that handled all data and information flow across the local orbital environment as well as the surface, then the space elevators extending up to their orbital termini, each terminus in itself a small city, the Seoul one impossibly close, the Beijing one just peeking out above the curvature of the Earth. Then beyond the termini he could watch shuttles winging their way to their destinations, be they military or commercial zero-G laboratories, enormous shipyard complexes, commercial trade ports, interplanetary broadcasting hubs, fighter hangars, anti-ship heavy railgun turrets or inhibitor nodes for the system's stasis net. Not even Palaven had this much orbital activity and yet somehow it worked, VI or Geth pilots and controllers ensuring nothing collided in their wild ballet around the planet. And out at the edge of the orbit in the Lagrange point between Earth and Luna, their moon, sat Earth Starbase, the enormous orbital fortress that at its widest point was sixty kilometres across. Perhaps on his next date with Tela they should rent out a glass-topped shuttle and watch the activity of the orbit pass them by.

He was distracted from his musings by a beeping in his helmet and he turned back to the rapidly approaching space elevator cable, bending his knees to arrest his momentum as he came into contact with the inner airlock door, the outer one sealing behind him as gravity and air returned. For the purposes of the investigation Saren and his Spectre compatriots had commandeered one of the smaller space elevator platforms on a secondary trunk cable to serve as their base of operations while they tried to figure out the guilty Node. He was greeted at the door by Tela, who gave him a quick peck on the mandible before helping him shed the outer layer of his hardsuit. Since it was only the six of them up there they didn't feel the need to look presentable, instead just spending the entire time in their skintight hardsuit base layers, something their Human teammates referred to as FBCs with the annoying Human trait to come up with an acronym for everything. Eventually Desolas had managed to find out on the Internet that FBC stood for Full Body Condom.

The space elevator platform was shaped similarly to the Paullus Node crew compartment but there the similarity ended. The toroidal compartment was furnished like an art-deco hotel lobby suddenly propelled into space, floor-to-ceiling hyperdiamond windows around the whole thing apart from the support struts. Despite being one of the smaller platforms this one had two levels, an upper level filled with comfortable multi-species seating, then two shallow ramps down to the lower level which seemed to be a system of duty-frees and a fancy restaurant. For the purposes of the investigation the Spectres and their N7 colleagues had contained themselves to the bottom level, leaving the upper level for sleeping on the very large, very soft sofas.

"What's Jondam up to?"

Saren scratched absent-mindedly at the biotic implant in the back of his neck as he and Tela walked round the curve of the platform.

"Still salivating over the Node's computer systems. Poor guy seems a bit confused."

They reached their work area and sat down, Saren tearing into a dextro steak as their Human colleagues turned to them.

"Something about this whole shebang doesn't add up."

Applying his painstakingly assembled mental toolkit for dealing with the more whimsical elements of Human speech, Saren inferred that Jack meant to say 'Something about this attack doesn't make sense'.

On the opposite side of the holographic representation of E-117, Desolas grunted his assent.

"I agree. Even the fact that they used the Node is strange."

The second Human assigned to the investigative team spoke up.

"Makes sense to me. There's two hundred fourteen Nodes pointed at the planet right now. People are getting antsy down there. They're thinking if one Node can be hijacked, they can all be hijacked. It's a psychological thing, turning part of our own defence system against us."

Saren agreed with the other Human, Major Eva Coré, TEC Marines, N7 corps, as she had introduced herself. He found her much more personable than Colonel Harper. Despite the fact that he really was quite a nice guy, those bionic eyes freaked him out. Tela was the next to speak up.

"I think the key isn't the Node, it's the munition. The Node has enough firepower to trash an entire city from orbit, yet these terrorists only fired one shot, and that shot was an area denial weapon. If their aim was to make a statement they could have done it far more effectively without bothering to lug an ADW all the way up to the Node."

Jack blinked at her, then dismissed the holo of the Node, instead bringing up a map of Seoul with the affected area delineated by a sickly green colour.

"Maybe the terrorism was a smokescreen to disguise their true intention. Or their true target."

The five of them gathered around the map and Saren felt something familiar stirring in his gut. The thrill of the hunt.

MIRALA, SEOUL, JANUARY 20 2188

Looking after someone was new to Mirala. When she and Nef had left the hospital after identifying her dead mother she had been silent the whole ride home, then she couldn't move when it was time to get out of the car. Mirala had ended up carrying her through into the apartment, stripping her unresisting body and dressing her in flannel pyjamas before tucking her into bed. Once she was asleep Mirala had got herself a special permit to rent out a breather mask and head into the blast zone under armed guard to recover Nef's belongings from her house. She hardly had anything to her name, Mirala appreciating for the first time exactly how poor her family had been, hovering just above the poverty line. Most of the belongings she had trucked out of there had been Nef's sculptures as well as her limited wardrobe, a handmade quilt off her bed, a couple of stuffed animals, a fistful of sculpting tools and a few paper photographs. Once she had recovered her partner's belongings both Mirala and the belongings were subjected to a very long, very humiliating decontamination procedure before she was allowed to pile up the things in the back seat of her skycar and head back home. She had gotten back at 2 in the morning and unpacked Nef's belongings before crawling into bed without even taking her boots off. She had woken up in the morning to find Nef on the balcony, hugging her knees as she leaned against the glass balustrade. They had eaten breakfast out on the balcony, Nef only eating mechanically when Mirala held up a morsel to her lips. The following days had been no better, Nef still in the grip of her strange catatonia for the whole of the eighteenth, Mirala feeding her, bathing her and putting her to bed. The nineteenth brought floods of tears and extreme clinginess to either her or the stuffed animals Mirala had rescued from the hot zone. Having never been in this situation before, Mirala wasn't sure whether it was an improvement or not.

On the twentieth Mirala finally decided to take desperate measures. Leaving Nef curled up in the sheets, arms wrapped around a sky blue rabbit, she punched up her comm console, hand hovering over the dial button before she silently admonished herself and hit it. The Asari face on the other end looked nothing short of stupefied.

"Rila, I need your help."

URDNOT WREX, MERCURY SHIPYARD, JANUARY 22 2188

"Hardly feels right."

Beside him, Captain Zorah nodded his assent as the two of them watched the Karamazov being stripped down, lasers shearing through armour plate as Rachni workers swarmed over her, using acid to loosen the hull and make it easier for the mass effect cranes to pick his ship apart. On his other side Sings-to-Metal-Wings was visibly flinching every time another section of hull plating was sheared off, pain-songs of dark red flashing out as he shifted from foot to foot, chittering nervously. Despite Bakara's promise that the crew would be kept intact several of his friends were being transferred to other ships. Ronald Taylor was set to become first officer on the TON Columbo, a new construction Sova-class carrier, Henry Lawson was being transferred to Benning starbase to focus on his work with the Sigma programme, the Krioses were headed for a posting to replace some of the crew of the TON Lazarus. But his core group of most trusted friends - himself, Legion, Zorah, Wings, Vakarian and Massani - they were all transferring to the new Karamazov with him. Despite being 10% larger and far more complex than the Akkan-class, the Kol IIIs only operated with a crew compliment of 2000 hands, making Wrex suspect the computer systems on board would be very complex. Interesting.

Legion, Cadmus and Zaeed joined them, mumbled greetings as the six of them stood there, watching their home get flayed alive.

THANE KRIOS, N7 TRAINING FACILITY, JANUARY 22 2188

Thane's fingers tightened on the trigger of his Long Fang sniper rifle, the heavy caliber round ready to punch through the skull of his target as he looked down the scope. He was hanging cloaked and upside down from the ceiling, gecko boots keeping him braced as he watched his target passing below, crosshairs focused on the Salarian's head.

"Target sighted."

The voice was little more than a murmur in his ear.

"Check. Ready in two, one, mark."

There was a faint puff as his rifle expelled the round, splattering red paint across the head of the Salarian as he obligingly fell to the ground, playing dead. Moments later he heard the voice in his earpiece.

"Target down."

"Same here."

He tapped his ear.

"I as well. Let us leave."

He dropped to the floor without a sound, tapping the dead Salarian on the head as he ran and receiving an obscene gesture for his troubles, making the rendezvous with his unit ahead of schedule. He found a spot of high ground overlooking the rendezvous point and swept over it with a trained eye, making sure he was thoroughly cloaked before engaging his thermal vision.

"Hold up. I've got four thermal anomalies overlooking the rendezvous point. Probably snipers."

Thermal maskers, such as those genetically integrated into an N7 operative's skin, were in theory impenetrable, but Thane had a talent for picking out the slight distortion in a thermal scan that indicated where a thermally masked enemy was hiding. Nobody could quite explain how he did it.

"Kasumi, head up to vantage point seven. Keiji, vantage point three. When I give the word, head up and take out your targets in melee."

He received two affirmatives and then shifted himself silently through the building until he reached vantage point one, spotting the sniper's position easily enough. Once he received word his two teammates were in position he struck out with his training knife, the holographic blade passing through the back of the man's neck and ending his life. Thane shoved him out of the way with a muttered apology and a quiet reminder that he was, in fact, dead, then took up position by his rifle.

The feeling of a heavy impact against his hood took him by surprise, before he obligingly went limp, feeling paint trickling down his light armour. Moments later he heard a surprised yelp over his comm, then the quiet voice of the instructor informing him the exercise was over. Cursing vehemently, Thane picked himself up and trudged out to the shuttle.

RILA, SEOUL, JANUARY 23 2188

Rila's hands wrapped around her mug of coffee as she and Falere sat at their sister's table, listening to her hesitantly explain what had happened to Nef. The pleading in her eyes was evident, as was the ... Affection? Of all the things Rila associated her sister with, affection was not one of them.

"Please, is there anything ... Nef, she's the only thing keeping me from, well ..."

Rila knew exactly what she meant.

"I can't say I have any more experience with this than you, but ... She's going to be okay. She can only get better now, but she needs someone to take care of her while she heals. I guess that's you."

Mirala looked down for a moment before looking back up.

"Do you have any news of Mother?"

Falere and Rila both looked down and away.

"Rila? Falere?"

"Um ... We're not sure, but ..."

"Falere."

"We think she's coming to Earth."

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, JANUARY 24 2188

Tali's eyes slowly opened, blinking in the harsh light. The first thing she registered was the pain, sharp and pulsing in her shoulder. The flickering heat of fires burning close by played across her skin as she gingerly probed her shoulder. Felt something sticking out. Panic gripped her, constricting her lungs before she forced herself to calm, to analyse the situation. Turning her head sent fresh waves of pain shooting through her body but she clamped down on them and turned anyway, focusing on the metal rod impaled through her left shoulder. Her left hand was crushed beneath a chunk of what looked like hull plating. She slid her good elbow underneath her, slowly lifted herself up, clenching her jaw to stifle a scream of pain as the rough rod slid through her shoulder.

She collapsed back down after getting completely off the rod, shuffling backwards so that the metal slick with violet blood was poking out from under her armpit. Lying still, she gave her shoulder time to start regenerating as she looked around her. Oh, she was in deep shit.

She was lying in the middle of a blast-scarred plain, fires scattered around and the wreckage of ships, both TEC and Reaper, littering the ground. Above her she could see points of light moving around in the sky and the echoing sounds of Thanix blasts and plasma fire as the space battle overhead occasionally dipped into the atmosphere. First things first - body check. Ignoring her screaming muscles, she pulled her left hand out from under the rubble, whimpering in dismay as her mangled fingers sent waves of agony shooting through her system every time she touched them against something. Using her good hand, she patted down her body, checking for any other wounds. Asides from a panoply of cuts, bruises and burns she seemed to be okay. Well, mostly okay. Now what the hell was going on?

Her question was answered by a low moaning sound. Husks. That just wasn't fair. She dropped to a crouch, left hand uselessly clutching the collar of her ripped and scorched jumpsuit as she dropped into the best approximation of a combat stance she could manage.

The grey skin and blue cybernetics of husked Asari loomed over her, a wave of groaning, shambolic zombies starting to stagger toward her as she looked over them, silver eyes filling with fear. Then the strangest thing happened.

They stopped.

Tali heard a chittering sound as something she had never seen before crested the wrecked Garda-class frigate she was in the shadow of. The creature fixed her with four malevolent eyes and made an insectoid clicking, aiming an organic-looking weapon at her. She threw herself to the right, dodging the dirty yellow beam that stabbed out, then flipped over it as the creature atop the wreck swept it at her knees. The beam shut off and the creature slung the weapon on its back before leaping into the air. Tali's eyes tracked it as it slammed into the ground ten metres from her, seemingly oblivious of the backdrop of hundreds of glowing Husk eyes.

Up close it was even scarier. It topped out at around nine feet in height, towering over Tali, dark red flesh covered in dirty brown chitinous plating, four yellow eyes shining with malevolence as it baby-stepped around her, circling her. It spread its arms, clicks melding together into a sort of tearing shriek as it screamed a challenge at her. Its forearms rippled briefly and then two long, curved blades appeared in its hand, dripping a clear, vile-smelling liquid. She had never been more scared in her life. She had thought the mindless Reaper creatures were scary - after seeing the apparition infused with sadistic malevolence in front of her she'd take the Reaper's automatons any day.

She didn't even consciously register the first attack, reflexes propelling her out of the way of the first blade but right into the path of the second one, scoring a thin cut across her abdomen. She hissed as the flesh around the wound suddenly went icy cold, then terrifyingly numb. Definitely poisoned. The second strike pierced her still-healing shoulder, the creature moving at lightening speed as it slashed at her head, blade whistling through empty air as she ducked it, lashing out a foot to try and connect with the monster's knee. The target leg lifted up, stomping down on her own knee, breaking it with a sickening crunch during her moment of overextension and drawing a scream from Tali as it pulled briefly away before spinning lazily on the ball of one foot and plunging both blades through her gut.

One of the monster's oversized hands wrapped around the hilt of both blades as the other gripped her by the throat, hauling her off the ground. She tried to lash out with her good arm but the strike simply bounced off its slightly springy plating as it examined her curiously. The hand around her neck shifted to her chin and she felt her head be tilted to look into the monster's eyes as it very gently lowered her to the ground, blades still buried in her abdomen as she felt her hands get pinned above her head. One of the blades left her body, only to stab down moments later, impaling both her palms and drawing another shriek from her. She felt rough hands on her jumpsuit, tearing it to shreds, then the cold kiss of the disgusting organic blade, the second one pulled out of the hole in her gut and now pressed against her stomach, slightly higher than the wound.

The creature, kneeling on her knees to pin her legs still, slowly drew its blade across her, stripping a flap of skin off her body, brandishing the grey rag soaked in violet before her eyes and then dropping it into the sharp-toothed mouth Tali had only just noticed.

She started screaming and didn't stop until the monster had started on her lungs seventeen minutes later. She died six minutes after that.

KAZIMIR SHEPARD, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, JANUARY 24 2188

Kaz pummelled on the cover of the virtual reality pod as it swung open, dropping to his knees as he slid out of it. The pod next to him opened as well, Tali falling out, crying out as she checked her stomach, her arms, her legs, then crawled over to the bucket and vented the contents of her stomach. All around him recruits were doing the same, crying out, praying, puking or huddling catatonic. He found a spot between two pods and curled up there, willing his breathing and heart rate back under control as Tali shuffled over to him. Then they latched onto one another and cried, tears soaking into jumpsuits as Kaz tried to block out the image of the monster hovering above him, flaying him, eating him alive.

JAMES VEGA-MASSANI, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, JANUARY 24 2188

"What. The. FUCK!"

James slammed one meaty fist into a tree, then screamed in rage. The six of them had retreated to their clearing the first chance they got, wanting nothing more than to get away from everything and everyone. Tali, Kaz, Kari and Garrus were all huddled together on the glowing grass, each person showing the trauma in different ways. Ash was perched on a boulder, eyes sightlessly staring at the same line of Tennyson for the past twenty minutes. And James? James was pissed.

"What the fuck was that shit? Some sort of freaky fetish the Lieutenant's got?"

He screamed incoherently and started pummelling the tree again, dislodging several butterfly lizards that chirped their displeasure at him before flitting off to find other perches. Abruptly Tali stood, shedding her jumpsuit, and ran to the river, plunging into the water and sending schools of bioluminescent fish scattering away as she curled up on the opposite bank, rocking back and forth in the chest-deep water. Garrus and Kari were holding hands so tightly that if they wanted to they could crush steel and Kaz was hyperventilating rapidly, fingers closed into shaky fists.

Eventually James stopped pummelling the tree and got up, forcing the visions of four eyed demons from his mind as he gently took the poetry book from Ash's unresisting fingers and led her over to the others, making her lie down. Then he waded across the shallow part of the river to Tali, picking her up and carrying her across, curling her wet, slippery body into Kaz, then rolling the five of his friends until they were huddled together on the grass.

"I'll take first watch. Go to sleep."

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, JANUARY 25 2188

Tali sat up abruptly, heart pounding, mouth open in a silent scream. On the rock nearby, James shifted round to look at her with concern.

"Just a dream, Tali. You okay?"

She snagged her jumpsuit and struggled into it before replying.

"No. No I'm not. I ..."

James walked over to her and enveloped her in his arms as she started trembling.

"Ssh, ssh. Just a dream, Tali. Breathe. Breathe."

He held her at arms length, looking at her with no small measure of concern as she gulped down oxygen.

"Better?"

She nodded, looking at him with wide silver eyes. As she lay back down he stroked her hair back and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Go back to sleep."

She made a quiet noise, already snuggling into Kaz as she drifted off again, just before sleep claimed her registering Garrus sit bolt upright, pawing at his shoulders and stomach before slumping, breathing heavily.

KARINA SHEPARD, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, JANUARY 25 2188

The recruits were silent as they filed into the briefing hall, the Lieutenant standing at the front. As they sat down he pressed a button and Kari, along with the rest of the Sigma recruits, recoiled, reaching for their rifles before relaxing as they realised it was just a hologram. Nevertheless, the depiction of the nine foot tall creature was enough to make the vast majority of recruits very, very jumpy.

"This is what you encountered in the VR sim yesterday."

For once the Lieutenant wasn't raising his voice, using the deathly silence of the room to his advantage as he spoke with an unusually subdued tone.

"We call them Vasari, or Collectors. They are the Reaper equivalent of Sigma operatives, and they are nasty buggers. Since the Reaper war started sixty three Sigmas have been KIA. Forty seven of those were killed by one of these bastards."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"They're bigger than us. Stronger and faster too, but they don't regen and they tire quicker. They're usually armed with a portable particle beam projector as well as two organic blades coated with a toxin that blocks our regeneration. Also, they have limited biotic abilities, mostly defensive in nature."

The hologram shifted to show the creature - Vasari - with fiery cracks along its carapace and eyes glowing like four miniature suns.

"If you see a Vasari looking like this, disengage immediately. These are what we call Harbingers. Vasari that are under the direct control of a Reaper. In this state they are impervious to anything smaller bore than the main gun of an Enlil medium tank, plus they gain several very nasty biotic abilities. However if the Harbinger is sustained for more than forty seconds, tops, the Vasari will literally melt under the strain. It's an insane combat buff but a Vasari will be at its weakest for about twenty seconds after the Reaper has released control."

He shifted the hologram back to the regular Vasari, no less terrifying than the possessed one.

"I'm forwarding everything we have on the Vasari to your datapads, then calling a week of liberty. We've booked you all up in a hotel in Joughin. Collect a credit chit and a uniform, assemble at the shuttle deck in thirty. Remember Rule Three. Dismissed."

ADRIAN VICTUS, SEOUL SPACE ELEVATOR, JANUARY 25 2188

The six investigators in the platform all saluted, the former Spectres slightly more sloppily than the militarily precise N7s.

"Admiral Victus."

Saren turned around and raised his mandibles slightly at the speaker, a Human female, before turning back to him.

"Victus, you old son of a villi, you made Admiral?"

The two Turians clashed their forearms together before pulling each other into a bear hug.

"Good to see you, Saren. Thought you were gone for sure."

"Nah, just on an extended leave of absence. This is Tela, Jondam, Jack and Eva. I don't think I need to introduce my kid brother. Everyone, this is my old friend Adrian. We went through basic together."

"This isn't a social visit, sorry to say. How's the investigation coming?"

Saren led his friend over to the holographic projection of the affected area of Seoul.

"We've been working off the assumption that the terrorist threat was a smokescreen to mask the true intentions of the attack. We've been trying to use what data we have available to establish a list of suspects, based on possible targets and motive."

"How many do you have?"

The investigators looked between each other nervously.

"Three hundred and seventy six."

"Oh, is that all?"

"Once we figure out how they hijacked the Node we'll be able to narrow it down considerably."

Victus sat down heavily and sighed.

"It's never easy, is it?"

HADRASSA VALERN, MOSCOW, JANUARY 26 2188

Valern had never wanted to be on the Citadel Council. He had been perfectly happy with his work in STG as an operations chief. But when the Dalatrasses pointed at somebody and said 'Tag! You're Councillor!' generally accepted wisdom held that you didn't argue. And now here he was, stuck on the home planet of a species unknown and he was bored as hell.

As bored as he was, at least he had the pleasure of familiarising himself with the technology of this 'TEC' and Sparatus, who fancied himself as a tactician, was poring over historical documents of ancient battles from ancient wars, his current interest being a period of civil war known as the 'Advent Wars' by their not-so-humble hosts. Tevos, with no real abilities beside politics and statesmanship, arguably had it the worst out of all of them since the Quarian Koris had so flippantly dismissed her raison d'être, but she was dipping into her prodigious reservoir of Asari patience to grin and bear it.

Probably the most fun Valern had experienced in years was trying to familiarise himself with this new species, the Humans, in particular their highly unconventional speech patterns. He found their style of communication almost poetic, yet simultaneously confusing and occasionally crass, with their seemingly inexhaustible supply of metaphorical phrases they enjoyed bamboozling aliens with. And that was before he had been introduced to Reddit. The 'Three Reapers invade a bar' thread was his personal favourite.

Spending time in the TEC had definitely got all three Councillors questioning long-held beliefs. Just last week Valern had observed three Humans, two Quarians, two Krogan, three Rachni males with their entourages of workers, two Turians and a Salarian attending a Drell's bachelor party. The Krogan were cured of the Genophage yet weren't trying to kill everyone. The Geth had achieved full sentience yet weren't trying to kill everyone. The Rachni were back in force yet weren't trying to kill everyone. Most unexpected.

Although it was quite amusing learning all he could about humans and the TEC - he could even tentatively claim to understand memes - Valern was starting to get a little stir crazy. Another one of those fascinating Human expressions. He felt like he should be somehow helping with the war effort. Perhaps he would look for a position as an intel analyst. Or something.

CODEX- PAULLUS NODES

Brainchild of Mexican General Elena Paullus, the Paullus Nodes were first implemented during the Second Korean War as a sophisticated fire support system for South Korean forces. In their first iteration the Paullus nodes were essentially communication satellites redesigned to carry missile banks and placed in geosynchronous orbit, with each one passing over the South Korean battlezone at a different point in the 24 hour day, providing unbroken orbital coverage of South Korea from the central control station in Moscow. Once the war was over the Trade Order quietly swooped in and seized control of the Paullus nodes, repurposing them for general security and defence purposes. The Nodes remained operational up to the start of the Advent Wars, where the surprise commando attacks on TEC HQ were foiled by well placed bombardments from the hundred year old satellites. Following the securing of the Sol system the Paullus nodes were hastily updated and modernised with antimatter railgun weapons, each new iteration increasing in complexity until the modern Paullus node satellite was born at the close of the Advent Wars. The Nodes became standard around any TEC colony, used by anyone with access to the tac grid - TEC military, local militia and police rapid response teams. With munitions ranging from solid osmium penetrators to 150 megaton antimatter warheads, the Paullus Nodes can perform tasks from disabling a single vehicle to annihilating a small country, one of the more sinister tools with which the TEC 'keeps the peace'.

CODEX- VARRO NODES

Named after their designer, Italian computer mogul Enrique Varro, the Varro Nodes are a system of ten million satellites, each one about the size of a basketball, that englobe each world in the TEC in a web of instantaneous information. Each Varro Node is linked to thirty six other randomly selected nodes by quantum entanglement communicators and is also linked to information hubs on the orbital termini of space elevators. Any request for information on the ground is sent up from the local server to the nearest Varro Node, which in turn directs the request to all hubs. The information from the hubs is then bounced back through the network to the originating Varro Node, which then collates the information before transmitting it back to the origin of the request in a highly compressed form. The Varro Node system, as well as being untappable thanks to the use of QECs, is incredibly efficient, the only noticeable time delay coming from how quickly the local server can decompress the received data packet. With Varro Nodes, a high end computing system can download an ultra-high-definition movie in 3 microseconds and local command and control centres can stream real time tactical data from anywhere on the planet or its local space. The theoretical maximum amount of data the network can handle has never been calculated or tested, but is estimated to be several hundred yottabytes (10^24 bytes) at least.

CODEX- STARBASES

The Argonev-class Orbital Fortified Fleet Depot (referred to by almost everybody as the Argonev Starbase or just Starbase) was first introduced in 2136 as part of the "Defender" project, to create an enormous cluster of fortified systems within which the TEC could rebuild and rearm before reclaiming their lost territory from the Advent. The enormous modular bases were protected by the strongest armour, deflectors and energy barriers available to the TEC and armed with hundreds of laser, beam and missile batteries. The Argonevs can also hangar up to fourteen squadrons of fighters and bombers, dock warships for repair and resupply, contain secondary control systems for planetary defences in case the planetary command is compromised and as a last resort can overload their antimatter power core to create a devastating explosion capable of wiping out an entire attacking fleet. The line of defences, based around Argonev class starbases, were all but unassailable, allowing the TEC to build up their enormous fleet that crushed the Advent worlds. By the time the Reaper wars came around there was a starbase built around every world in the TEC, refitted with Thanix cannon and Geth plasma to replace their antiquated laser weaponry. Simulations show that if the Reapers ever penetrated TEC territory it would take ten Reaper capital ships to eliminate each Starbase.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I based the Sigma's uniform off the pilot's uniform from the original Battlestar Galactica. Also, this chapter shows the introduction of my first major original character into this fic, Warlord. So if anyone is wracking their brains to figure out where she was in the games, don't bother.

GARRUS VAKARIAN, JOUGHIN, JANUARY 27 2188

Joughin, the capital city of Benning, was a pretty nice place, all be told. Just enough bustle to give Garrus that 'City' vibe he enjoyed so much but with patches of lush turquoise vegetation every block or so. The skycars that roamed overhead were almost silent, making a soft purring sound instead of the harsh whooshing he remembered from his childhood on Palaven. He had been ten when the Reapers invaded, just old enough to build a bank of positive memories so he would miss his home planet.

"Hey Garrus, what's up?"

He looked up to see Kari's concerned expression.

"Just thinking about Palaven."

She squeezed his hand in a gesture of silent comfort, making his mandibles flutter slightly. Unlike the shapeless jumpsuits they usually wore, the uniforms they were wearing on their liberty were quite sharp-looking and Garrus caught a couple of boys admiring Kari from across the street. The skintight white top and trousers, the black leather jacket and boots were almost a carbon copy of a pilot's uniform, but in black and white instead of brown and beige and with the Sigma logo instead of the pilot's wings on the breast.

"Hey Garrus."

"Yeah?"

"Do Turians kiss?"

The question was so unexpected he actually stumbled slightly.

"Excuse me?"

Kari was going an interesting shade of red.

"Um ... I mean ... I was just wondering, you know, since, well ..."

They were wandering into one of the many parks that dotted the city. Very few people were about, most of them inside. At these latitudes it got very, very hot in the middle of the day, meaning everybody was sheltering in their air conditioned apartments. Of course, what with the greatly enhanced temperature tolerance of Sigma troops, this wasn't even close to hot enough to bother Kari and him. They sat down heavily on a bench together, Kari still flushing that disconcerting shade of bright red and Garrus's mandibles fluttering in embarrassment.

"Look, um, Garrus ..."

He waited patiently for Kari to collect herself.

"The thing is ... I wanted to say thanks. For taking care of me when my ... When I got that letter. And I ... Ah hell, I'm awful at this ..."

"Turians bite, not kiss. Neck or shoulder."

"Well look what we have here boys."

Both Garrus and Kari turned to the new voice. A group of seven Human boys, looking like part of a gang, clearly trying to be tough guys. Garrus growled and rubbed his mandibles.

"Can it wait? We're having a moment."

The ringleader, covered in ugly tattoos, taunted them as his friends moved to surround them.

"Look at that boys. The bird is having a moment with his scale skank."

He bristled at that, standing up and clenching his fists.

"Say that one more time, I dare you."

Despite his anger his voice was perfectly level.

"In case you can't count, bird, there's seven of us and one of you."

Kari sighed.

"What, am I part of the furniture, or did your daddy not teach you to count in between his basement asshole-stretching sessions?"

The ringleader's face contorted into a mask of rage.

"You'll pay for that, bitch!"

A flickery blade appeared on his wrist.

"Oh look at that, a cheap illegal shiv program on a cheap-ass iTool. Whatever shall we do?"

The gang started closing in on them and suddenly the ringleader found himself staring down the barrel of a very large gun.

"I am sorely tempted to put a round in your head right now."

It was surprising how quickly the mouthy thug was reduced to a quivering heap. Garrus collapsed his rifle and slung it back on the magnetic strip on his jacket before picking up the would-be mugger by the throat and examining him dispassionately, as a scientist would a small animal he planned on dissecting.

"Run along home, little boy. Leave the fighting to real fighters."

His one-armed toss sent the thug flying across the park, crashing into a hedge as his gang fled the scene and Garrus plopped back down on the bench beside Kari.

"Where were we?"

In response, Kari leaned in and nipped him on the leathery skin of his throat before recoiling, hand over mouth.

"Oh god ... I didn't mean ..."

Garrus silenced her by pressing his lip plates on her mouth, holding them there for a good five seconds before pulling away.

"Humans kiss, right?"

She smiled at him.

"And Turians bite."

HURRICANE, THESSIA, JANUARY 28 2188

There were eight of them in their little resistance team. Eight against a planetload of Reapers. Somehow, they had lasted four, close to five years now. Probably the last resistance fighters left on the planet.

Inferno, formerly Captain Wasea of the Eclipse mercenary organisation, had been on Thessia closing a red sand deal when the Reapers hit. She was a master of pyrotechnics, armed with two wrist-mounted flamers and a heavy flamethrower on her back, as well as two Paladin pistols with incendiary ammo mods. Her biotic fireballs had saved the unit from being overwhelmed by Husks hundreds of times already. In her bright red armour with one enormous shoulder guard, she was terrifying on the battlefield.

Tesla, formerly Elnora, Wasea's most recent Eclipse initiate, had come to Thessia with her commander to cut her teeth on bodyguard duty. She had a love of killing Reaper creatures through the creative application of high voltage, hence the name. Her favourite weapon was an Arc Projector she had snatched from a repurposed military R&D lab they had hit three years ago, accompanied by a Turian Phaeston assault rifle with Disruptor rounds and an Overload module so jacked out the pulses of electricity could deep-fry a Husk more thoroughly than Inferno's flamethrower. She wore silver armour with lightening patterns down the arms, usually filling more of a support role in their engagements.

Nova had been her mother, Matriarch Benezia, before the Reapers had hit. Even now Hurricane had trouble reconciling her calm, serene mother with Nova who cackled with glee every time she sterilised a square or park with her Cain fusion bomb launcher or hissed in savage, vindictive satisfaction every time she blew away a Cannibal with her Salarian-made Venom shotgun. Encased in armour a dirty shade of scrapheap yellow to match her Cain, Nova's love of explosions could not be overstated.

Snowblind, previously Shiala, the only one of her mother's entourage of commandos to survive the initial onslaught, was almost the polar opposite of Inferno, taking great glee in the use of cryo weapons. Her white and ice blue armour had glowing tanks of cryo fluid installed on the forearms to feed her Snap Freeze and Cryo Blast Omnitool modules, and her Avalanche cryo grenade launcher on her back had frozen more than its fair share of Husks to be shattered moments later by a round from her heavily customised M-99 Saber marksman rifle.

Longshot used to be another Matriarch, one whose Krogan father had more influence over her DNA than usual. She went from humbly working the bar in Eternity lounge on Illium to somehow ending up in her mother's atrium on Thessia on the eve of the Reaper invasion, conversing with her mother in low, worried tones. She was a sniper, and a lethal one, almost as deadly at extreme range with her heavily modded Carnifex pistol as she was with her Black Widow sniper rifle or her ML-77 missile launcher. Her biotics were also quite formidable, flinging her green-armoured form from vantage point to vantage point with biotically boosted leaps and sprints, taking out anything that got close with a Shockwave or a Flare.

Shadow was the only non-Asari in the unit, a young Drell girl who before the invasion had been Irikah, the maid of a Hanar dignitary in the Illuminated Primacy's embassy. She was a biotic infiltrator of unsurpassable skill, her black hooded cloak suit rendering her invisible until the moment she sank her long diamond-bladed knife into the back of a Cannibal or Marauder, or made a long-distance killshot with her Suppressor silenced pistol. She was also a master at hacking, bypassing most repurposed Asari security systems the team encountered with ease and leaving sticky mines and booby traps in their wake.

Warlord was the most enormous Asari any of them had ever seen, a six foot seven mass of rippling muscle. None of the others knew her old name. She had spent the first two hundred years of her life on Tuchanka, growing up among Clan Urdnot before returning to Thessia. She seemed the only one who preferred the Reaper blasted skyline to the previous elegant sweeps of architecture. When asked she would simply grunt and say 'Reminds me of home'. Encased in dark grey heavy armour, she carried a Krogan-made Claymore heavy shotgun, the force of the impacts sending Husks flying fifteen metres or more, and carried an M-490 Blackstorm singularity cannon stolen from a Blood Pack general on Omega. But her signature weapon was a Krogan Warlord Hammer. She had recovered it from the lair of one Tonn Actus, a peddler of antiquities, along with the Urdnot ancestral armour. When she returned to Tuchanka she was permitted to keep the hammer as a token of gratitude. Hammer in hand, she was a devastating close combat force, swinging it in biotically charged floor slams that smashed swarms of Husks to fragments of tattered flesh.

And that left her. Hurricane. Formerly Liara T'Soni, Prothean archaeologist, crackpot conspiracy theorist and ultimately proven correct in the worst imaginable way. She strode around the battlefield in her steel blue armour, hurling Singularities, Warps, Pulls and Throws at the Reaper forces as well as spinning the crackling aura of dark energy known as the Annihilation Field around herself, the ability that had earned her the nickname. She carried an M-76 Revenant and an M-100 grenade launcher to provide fire support to the rest of her team as she dominated the field with her biotic abilities.

Right now, she was guarding the bikes with Snowblind, checking over the stealth net to ensure all five of the vehicles were covered.

"Gum?"

Hurricane couldn't understand how Snowblind could stay so calm, nonchalantly leaning against a bombed-out wall and chewing honey gum five minutes before an engagement.

"Thank you, but no."

"Your funeral, sister. Just means more for me, I guess."

She tried to think of a snappy retort, cursing her inherent social awkwardness just as the searing boom cut through the air.

"That's Nova all right. Fire up the bikes."

She swept the stealth net off the sleek black machines, rolling it up and stuffing it in the under-seat cargo compartment with her box of spare thermal clips and water bottle before keying the ignition on her bike, pressing the button to remotely activate all five as Snowblind scrambled up a pile of rubble, Avalanche in hand.

"There's Warlord, Inferno ... And there's Nova. Husks hot on their tails. Let's hustle."

The dirty yellow armoured figure at the rear tossed a cluster grenade over her shoulder, whooping as about ten Husks were shredded by the triple mass effect detonation. Then they were there, swinging themselves into their bikes and gunning the engines before roaring off onto the causeway, leaving the moaning Husks in their wake as they weaved around encroaching piles of rubble.

A sibilant hum reached Hurricane's ears over the roaring of her own engine and she scanned the road ahead for obstacles before glancing behind her.

"Vasari bikes!"

Three of the nine-foot tall creatures were bent low over hovering tan bike-like vehicles, all flaring fins and strange spinning organic-looking components.

"Snowblind! Want to play sand snakes?"

In response the ice white figure of Snowblind swung over to ride just in front of Hurricane's bike.

"Tag it, Hurricane!"

She tapped a couple of buttons on her handlebars, slaving her bike's VI to follow Snowblind's movements, then lifted her feet up off the stirrups, swinging around in the saddle to face backwards, leaning back against the handlebars and unslinging her M-100 from the jury-rigged holster welded to the side of her engine block. Glancing over, she noticed that Inferno had done the same with Warlord and was in the same position as her.

"Ready kid?"

She shouted back across.

"I thought we established you weren't going to call me that!"

They were interrupted by Nova decelerating to ride in between them.

"Less banter, more killing Vasari!"

She flipped up the iron sight on her M-100, mentally compensating for the projectile's arc before squeezing the trigger twice. She had ten grenades in the cyclical chamber, hopefully enough to throw off the Vasari pursuit bikes. The grenades arced upwards, a last minute jink to the side saving her target from a direct hit but still filling the side of the leftmost bike with shrapnel. It started decelerating, listing to the side and sputtering as the other two pursues opened fire.

Gritting her teeth, Hurricane hastily erected a biotic field protecting her and Inferno as two yellow beams played across it, draining her energy and her concentration as they didn't give her barrier a chance to replenish. Beside her, Inferno ripped two incendiary cluster grenades off the webbing over her chest, tossing the cylinders onto the ground and then keeping her thumb on the detonator, eyes fixed on her little presents.

As the Vasari pursuit bikes skimmed over them she hit the button, clusters of incendiary bomblets arcing out and hitting the vulnerable base of the bikes. The resulting belch of fire destroyed the right hand bike, propelling its burning rider off it and onto the road where the creature rolled frantically, trying to extinguish the flames. The explosion broke the particle beam fire, allowing Hurricane to gasp in a couple of deep lungfuls of air before the sole remaining bike reacquired her, once again taxing her barrier to breaking point.

"Woohoo!"

The cry came as Nova tossed four lift grenades behind her, the explosive mass effect fields making the Vasari swerve to dodge and slam right into a pile of rubble. Their pursuers defeated, Hurricane slumped back against the handlebars of her bike, gasping for air as she slid her grenade launcher back into its holster.

"You okay kid?"

She limply flopped her hand at Inferno.

"Just gimme a minute. Or twelve."

The red-armoured pyromaniac chuckled as she swung back round in her saddle.

The rest of the ride to the rendezvous point was fairly uneventful. Hurricane shut down her engine, swinging herself off her bike and grabbing it to stop her knees buckling before slumping to the floor.

"Here."

She looked up to see Nova kneeling in front of her with a concerned expression on her face, holding out a bottle of energy drink which she gratefully accepted, chugging half the contents.

"Thanks Mum. Those particle beams really take it out of your barrier."

"That they do."

"We need to screen the latest batch."

"Already done. Tesla and Longshot took care of it."

She stood up, refusing help from Nova as she looked over the thirty or so refugees they had recovered from the prison camp. Six of them had been separated out and stood apart from the rest.

"Alright, listen up, ladies. My name's Inferno. Here's how it's going to work. The main group, that's you lot, are going to head through to our main facility with Nova, Snowblind, Warlord and Longshot. The second group are going to head to our secondary facility with myself, Shadow, Tesla and Hurricane."

Nova walked up and towed Inferno aside, speaking in low, angry tones.

"What the fuck? Why are you sending the kids to the secondary facility?"

Inferno's voice was little more than a snarl as she replied.

"Look around you. This is a war. I'm tired of you babying the kids."

"They're kids! Tesla is only eighty four!"

"They're not kids anymore! They haven't had the luxury of being kids for five years!"

Nova glared at Inferno for a couple of seconds.

"Fine. But don't expect me to be happy about it."

"Noted."

She turned back to the refugees.

"Alright. Main group, move out."

With some hesitation, the group of shell shocked refugees allowed themselves to be shepherded out of the room. Inferno settled herself on a chunk of fallen masonry and set a timer on her Omnitool.

Fifteen minutes passed very slowly for Hurricane as she kept watch on the six oddly subdued refugees. Eventually Inferno's Omnitool chimed.

"Alright then. Move them out to the old police precinct."

The four Resistance fighters hefted their weapons, Hurricane slinging her grenade launcher on her back and keeping her Revenant in hand as they led the refugees through the deserted streets and to the precinct. The town they were in was relatively small and hadn't really been focused on by the Reapers, just sending some ground forces to do a few sweeps once the big cities had fallen. Most of the buildings were largely intact, including the police precinct, which suited the purposes of the Resistance just fine.

After all, those six refugees were the ones that had been indoctrinated.

Inferno and Tesla were the first in, sweeping through the building before declaring it clear and allowing Hurricane and Shadow to lead the refugees in.

"Okay ladies. What we need you to do is to step into these individual rooms along this corridor, one per room. Once you are inside, strip and place all personal articles in the green boxes provided, then take a seat. One of us will be along to process you momentarily."

The six Asari refugees stepped into the rooms, completely docile and compliant. Inferno gathered the three younger fighters around.

"Remember, up, twist and down. Spiral fracture along the spinal column. Completely painless. I'll stand watch, take two each."

Hurricane nodded wordlessly and stepped into the first room. The woman in the chair looked at her blankly.

"Just a physical exam. Making sure you're not sick."

The lie slipped off her tongue, leaving a bitter aftertaste although she remained outwardly expressionless. Crying about it could come later. After all, she had a job to do.

RAEL'ZORAH VAS KARAMAZOV, TON KARAMAZOV, JANUARY 29 2188

"Remarkably efficient."

He ran his hand over the contours of his command chair, lovingly moved from the old Akkan-class to the bridge of the Karamazov II, refurbished slightly with synth-leather instead of the old plastic backing. The bridge of the Kol III class was much larger than the bridge of the old Akkan, yet he actually had two fewer bridge crew, making the whole thing feel unusually spacious. His command throne took centre spot on the upper level, the D shaped walkway split in the centre by a wide stairway heading down to the bottom level that contained six control stations. On the upper level were two two-man control stations, sensors and tactical, with weapons, damage control, power, life support, engines and secondary systems down below. Flanking his chair was the slightly smaller secondary command thrones belonging to his XO and his helmsman respectively. Behind him, his bridge crew waited patiently as he looked out of the forward viewscreen at the sight of Mercury's orbit, thrumming with life, the three equatorial space elevators linking to the sealed dome cities of Galtha, Moralis and New Jakarta.

"Alright, make yourselves at home."

The bridge crew filed in, taking their seats in the control stations dotted around the twin-layered bridge. There were two new faces on his bridge - a Krogan, Charr, transferred from the TON Numenia with a whole page of glowing references, and an Asari unknown replacing his helmsman, who had transferred to the TON Moravi, a new construction Dunov Battlecruiser.

"Helm?"

The fresh faced Asari turned eagerly to him.

"Who the hell are you?"

He accompanied the question with a grin to show he didn't resent her replacing his helmsman.

"Uh ... Ensign Ereba T'Roahé, sir."

"Very well Ensign. All stations check in."

"Sensors check."

"Tactical check."

"Weapons check."

"Damage control check."

"Life support check."

"Thrusters check."

"Power check."

"Secondary systems check."

"Helm check."

"All stations report ready for departure."

"Thank you, XO. Engineering?"

-We sing readiness-songs, Command-Singer. It will be good to sing flight-songs with you again-

"Ever handled a Kol before, T'Roahé?"

"No sir. Biggest I ever trained on was a Percheron light carrier."

"Ancestors preserve us. Take her out, helm."

Did it really count as a maiden voyage? Rael wasn't sure. All they were really doing was heading to Mars Shipyard to finish the refits. The Karamazov wasn't even complete - no armour plate, no energy barriers, no weapons and no phase drive - but she was moving under her own power. He supposed that in the end, that was what counted.

"XO, I don't suppose I could convince you to paint a mural on the back wall, could I? It's rather grey in here."

Legion's head flaps twitched slightly.

"We refuse to depict any pornographic material on the bulkhead of a warship."

Cracking wise and laughing on the bridge of the TON Karamazov in flight - Rael was home.

SAREN ARTERIUS, SEOUL SPACE ELEVATOR, JANUARY 29 2188

"Admiral Victus?"

The Turian face on Saren's comm screen looked nervous.

"News?"

He paused for a moment, unsure how to continue.

"I've got three pieces. Each one worse than the last."

The Admiral waited patiently for Saren to collect himself, the faint flutter of his mandibles the only indicator of his trepidation.

"One of the buildings inside the affected area was a privately owned phase drive repair workshop."

There was a slight pause.

"Three phase drives are currently unaccounted for."

And the third one's the charm. Spirits, he needed to spend less time around Humans.

"We found Reaper code in the Paullus node."

JUSTICAR SAMARA, SEOUL, JANUARY 29 2188

When she entered the apartment her cursed daughter was using, she was not prepared for what she found.

"Raise."

"I'll raise."

"Ah Goddess. All in."

"Uh ... If I want to back out I say fold, right?"

"Yep."

"Okay, fold."

"Three kings."

"Nice. Pair of jacks."

"Hah! Four aces!"

Falere cackled gleefully as she pulled the precarious stack of small, circular tokens toward her. The Human sitting to her right grumbled slightly.

"I never would have taught you to play poker if I thought your little sister would be cleaning house."

Opposite the Human, Rila scratched her crests and sighed.

"At this rate I'm going to need to beg money off you for the maglev fare back to Prague."

The Human leaned back and stretched in her seat, prompting both Rila and Falere to surreptitiously glance at her figure until Mirala shot them both warning looks.

"I'm going to grab some snacks. Anyone want?"

Mirala smirked as she leaned back and subconsciously rubbed her throat.

"You two simply have to try this Human delicacy, what were they called?"

"Pringles."

"Pringles. With soft cheese."

The Human bounced off to the kitchen and the three Asari turned around.

"We know you're there, Mother."

Samara stepped out of the shadows.

"What are you doing here, Rila? Falere?"

Falere looked at her somewhat petulantly.

"Visiting our sister. What does it look like?"

"Why are you not in a monastery?"

"Because we're not Ardat-Yakshi. Not anymore. The TEC gene-modded it right out of us."

At this point Samara did what all fanatics do when faced with a truth that threatens their beliefs. She stopped listening.

"No. The code dictates that all Ardat-Yakshi must live within a monastery. I demand you return there at once."

Mirala's face twisted into a mask of distaste.

"Have you gone senile, Mother, or do you simply refuse to see reason? We're not Ardat-Yakshi. There is no Monastery. Your code is obsolete."

Biotic power started to flicker over Samara, the only outward expression of her confusion and anger as she stubbornly repeated the tenets of the Justicar Code. Falere ran up to her, holding her hands out in front of her.

"Mother, please! Listen to us!"

From somewhere behind her she heard a disdainful sniff.

"A shame you won't listen to reason, Justicar."

It was the voice of the Human girl. Then moments later a rougher, deeper voice.

"Samara. You are under arrest for conspiracy to commit murder and violation of the Blank Slate act."

She could only stare at her daughters as the four police officers that had been hiding in the kitchen cuffed her hands behind her back and escorted her out.

MAGORUS CHELLICK, SEOUL HWS HQ, JANUARY 29 2188

Chellick looked through the two way mirror at the Asari seated in the interrogation room.

"So what have we got?"

His partner, Eddie Lang, thumbed through the admittedly sparse file.

"Samara, last name unknown. Justicar, which is apparently like some sort of religious yahoo cum bounty hunter. Picked up in her eldest daughter's apartment, apparently intending to inflict harm upon said daughter in violation of BS."

The Asari looked almost serene in the cold metal chair.

"Say, Chel, the missus is throwing a barbie this Saturday. You game? Don't worry, she knows how to cook dextro."

Chellick shrugged.

"Don't have anything planned. I'll bring dextro beer. Now, shall we?"

Eddie pushed open the door and Chellick followed him through and into the interrogation room. Samara watched them with dispassionate eyes but otherwise didn't react to their presence.

"Chellick and Lang, Homeworld Security. Why were you in your daughter's apartment?"

The Asari blinked twice, other than that maintaining her infuriating poker face.

"To deliver justice for the lives she took."

Lang shook his head and ran a hand over his buzz cut blond hair.

"Clearly you weren't paying attention when the immigration officers explained Blank Slate to you. All citizens of the TEC upon induction are pardoned of any crimes committed before they received citizenship. A fresh start, if you will."

At this the icy demeanour started to crack as Samara leaned forward in her seat, gazing at them intently. Chellick silently willed Eddie to keep his eyes on her face.

"Don't you see! She's dangerous! She must be stopped!"

It was Chellick's turn to cut in.

"She was originally flagged as dangerous, but our covert observation team have formally changed her designation to safe. That Human girl, Sheridan, has been a major positive influence."

Eddie nodded and flicked idly through Mirala's file on his iTool.

"Mm, yes. Says here she has a job writing as an art critic for the Museum of Terrestrial Art and Sculpture. Not exactly jumping out as a serial killer."

"Her condition ..."

Chellick sharply interrupted the Justicar.

"Is no longer a concern. As we have stated, genetic assays collected from tissue samples in her apartment reveal the gene mods completed eliminating the condition almost eighteen months ago. She's not the dangerous member of the family."

Eddie picked up Chellick's cue without missing a beat.

"You on the other hand ... Your psych profile shows a strong predisposition towards fanaticism, something that thankfully your daughters haven't inherited, as well as minor sociopathic tendencies, limited ability to empathise, strong reliance on biotic power in everyday life ... Not exactly inspiring confidence."

"Which leads onto the interesting dilemma your continued incarceration presents." Samara's regal demeanour had evaporated completely, staring at Chellick like the deer in the proverbial headlights. "Your more ... vigilante tendencies would make you a serious destabilising element in any prison population, not to mention your powerful biotic abilities and paramilitary training would make you an extremely dangerous inmate. Enough to consider a cryostasis facility as a viable storage solution." She had started trembling very slightly by that point. "There is one other alternative."

Eddie delivered the kicker with his usual dry, emotionless intonation he used when dealing with suspects.

"Have you considered a job with Homeworld Security?"

HURRICANE, THESSIA, JANUARY 30 2188

Hurricane screwed up her eyes and tried not to squeal as Tesla dumped a bucket of cold water over her head. The drips ran down her body, dripping from every angle as she used her fingernails to scrape away at the week's worth of accumulated muck coating her skin. Once she was back to a slightly more acceptable shade of blue she turned to give the same treatment to Tesla, who was less successful at stifling her surprised squawk. No matter how many times she had done it in the past five years, she had never quite got used to cleaning herself using a bucket of freezing water instead of the long, hot baths or pneumatic chambers she had grown accustomed to before the invasion. Once she was done freezing Tesla's crests off she turned to give the same treatment to Snowblind, who was idly scratching at the ice crystal pattern tattoos adorning her neck, shoulders and arms. Now Snowblind - she didn't mind the cold one bit.

The three naked, dripping Asari sat down on chunks of rubble around a fire to dry themselves off. Well, almost naked. All three of them wore the metal collars they never removed. Reaper forces were going to capture them, thumbprint on the back of the collar, press the four switches in the right sequence and boom. Might even take a Husk or two with them.

As they sat around, staring into the flames, Snowblind struck up a conversation.

"So how did it go? Taking the indoctrinated refugees?"

Hurricane glanced up at her before returning her gaze morosely to the fire.

"We eliminated them and brought their belongings back to be distributed among the other refugees. Any family members took the personal items."

"Personal items?"

"Two photo lockets, a purse and a toy sand snake."

Snowblind looked at her with concern.

"And how are you doing?"

"Fine."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Why would I?"

"Do you even feel?"

Both of them turned to look at Tesla, who was glaring at Hurricane.

"You executed two Asari. One of them was twenty six fucking years old! And you just sit there like it was taking out the rubbish!"

Hurricane blinked, slightly confused.

"Well, in a manner of speaking, it was."

"Gah!"

Tesla stormed off, fists clenched as she violently kicked open the door to the room she shared with Shadow, Snowblind and Hurricane.

"What was all that about?"

Snowblind was regarding her with a concerned expression, finally managing to trigger a flare of annoyance past the icy numbness in her heart.

"What?"

"Tesla was right. You don't feel at all, do you?"

ARELLIA TEVOS, TEC HIGH COMMAND (MOSCOW), JANUARY 30 2188

"This session of the Conclave of Representatives is brought to order."

Tevos sat in her seat, uncomfortably fiddling with the TEC dress uniform she had been supplied with. The faded blue colour almost perfectly matched her skin, making it look from a distance like she was naked aside from a generous helping of decorative gold flamboyance. She had never wanted to wear the damnable thing but the messenger sent to the apartment she was being put up in had mentioned cryptically that she was being invited attendance to the Conclave of Representatives because the matter under discussion was of 'personal concern' to her. And attending the Conclave meant wearing the uniform. Yay.

Representative Wreav came to take his place at the speaker's lectern, pausing to exchange a couple of hushed words with Representative Koris. Once at the lectern, he idly pulled at the collar of his own uniform and cleared his throat.

"I, Representative Urdnot Wreav, put forward the following motion."

He paused dramatically and looked around the room. Tevos found herself grudgingly admiring the man's sheer presence and showmanship.

"To reduce the Reaper's supply of indoctrinated Asari ..."

Suddenly her interest was piqued. She leaned forward, fixing her eyes on the Representative.

"By the deployment of Novalith class kinetic impactors against Thessia."

...

What?

CODEX- THE BLANK SLATE ACT

The Blank Slate Act was brought in two weeks after the induction of the Krogan race into the TEC as an attempt to stem the enormous amount of infighting among the Krogan once they were removed from immediate Reaper threat. The act simply states that all activities an individual may have engaged in contrary to TEC or their own law prior to their induction as a citizen of the TEC be erased from the record, effectively providing a fresh start for all immigrants and refugees. The Act caused enormous controversy throughout the TEC while initially doing little to stem the tide of Krogan-induced violence, however since this was before the dissolution of the Krogan clan structure, the various female clans banded together and declared they would deny breeding rights to any Krogan not abiding by the terms of the Blank Slate act.

Although officially all crimes are forgotten the moment someone signs their TEC membership papers, certain individuals flagged as liable to engage in criminal activity by immigrations officials are subject to 24 hour covert observation up until the point where either they are categorised as 'Safe' or they plan to commit crime, at which point they will quietly be disappeared.

The Blank Slate act is especially unpopular among law enforcement, who regularly refer to it as the Bull Shit act, or BS.

CODEX- HOMEWORLD SECURITY

Homeworld Security is a shadowy organisation that fills many roles on Earth: an oversight authority for local law enforcement, a special investigations division and in some cases an espionage agency. Tasked with protecting Earth from all threats, both foreign and domestic, that can't be combatted by military action, HWS is the template for many other organisations on other major TEC worlds, although none have gained the infamous reputation or checkered past boasted by HWS.

CODEX- CRYOSTASIS

Cryostasis is an alternate form of imprisonment to conventional prisons, only used in very extreme situations or if the prisoner is too dangerous to be incarcerated in a regular prison. The body is first immobilised in a metal container known colloquially as a cold coffin, then the blood is drained and stored in a tank built into the coffin, replaced with an electrolyte fluid that fills the same function as blood but is still effective down to temperatures as low as 2 Kelvin. The temperature in the coffin is then lowered to the point where the body's cells go into hibernation, sustained by the cryostasis fluid but the process of cell division completely halted. The prisoner remains aware during this entire process, the trauma of cryostasis often causing a breakdown of sanity. For this reason the cryostasis fluid is doped with a potent cocktail of psychoactive drugs that will quite literally make the prisoner incapable of developing any form of mental instability. Cryostasis imprisonment violates no less than seventy six sentient rights conventions and is illegal everywhere except on Pluto or Deimos, meaning that both planets have extensive subterranean cryostasis facilities where organisations such as Homeworld Security quietly ship their problem prisoners.

A/N: I want to thank all my followers and reviewers for their continued support of the story, and remind everyone that reviews give me warm glowy feelings inside. Next chapter: The conclusion of the 'Attack on Seoul' story arc, more shenanigans in the Sigma's Week Off, unhappy ex-Councillors and Aria T'Loak.


	7. Chapter 7

ARELLIA TEVOS, TEC HIGH COMMAND (MOSCOW), JANUARY 30 2188

Using her representative's terminal, Tevos pulled up everything she could about Novalith kinetic impactors in the silence that followed Representative Wreav's statement, idly noting similar actions throughout the room as the various dignitaries scrambled for knowledge. What she saw nearly stopped her heart.

Kinetic impactor was a woeful mis-description of the weapon. The Novalith Cannon was an enormous device based on a Mass Relay, although it was merely thirty kilometres end to end instead of the fifty of a relay. The weapon was quite simple in its operation - create a zero-mass tunnel between the muzzle of the cannon and the target planet, then fire a large chunk of metal through the tunnel. Then cut power to the cannon's eezo chamber 0.07 attoseconds before the chunk of metal intersected with the planet.

The laws of physics do not take kindly to a massless object travelling several orders of magnitude faster than the speed of light suddenly having its mass returned to it. The projectile would instantaneously be liberated into a wave of pure energy that was literally unquantifiable and then slam into the planet in question. The unfortunate celestial body would very rapidly cycle through the states of gas cloud, star and quark-gluon plasma before releasing an energy shockwave that would sterilise anything within half an astronomical unit, the matter itself collapsing and re-fusing to form a featureless grey blob, roughly the same mass and dimensions as the planet it once was, continuing on in its orbit as if nothing untoward had occurred. The ball of unstable matter would slowly break apart as it settled into more manageable chunks, the subatomic particles simply not designed to be held together in the strange configurations they had adopted. The atoms would continue to coalesce and fuse together even as the ex-planet slowly disintegrated, leaving a dense asteroid belt composed largely of chunks of lithium and beryllium, along with a hazy cloud of hydrogen and helium.

And that ... brute wanted to inflict this fate on Thessia.

Her sudden outburst of furious outrage wasn't alone - fully half the representatives in the chamber were on their feet, hurling vitriol at the surprisingly calm Krogan at the lectern. To her horror, the other half were pinging messages between each other and solemnly nodding. Eventually Chairman Udina managed to restore some semblance of order.

"Thank you, Chairman." Everything about the monster standing by the lectern repulsed Tevos on a base level. "I would like to share with the Conclave some data recently gathered by the Arcova-class scout frigate TON Bazarkah." She wasn't sure if she wanted to tear into his misshapen face with her bare hands or fall at his feet and beg him to spare her world. "As you can see, the situation on Thessia is far more grave than on Palaven or Sur'Kesh." Her stomach twitched and she clamped down on the sensation. "The only resource usable by the TEC on Thessia is their element zero mines, and evidence suggests the entire population has been subjugated by the Reapers." She felt a familiar pricking at the corner of her eye. She wouldn't weep for her planet. Not now. "Every minute we leave Thessia untouched is more Husks for the Reaper war machine. The natives have offered no resistance whatsoever to the Reaper occupation." She felt herself fall to her knees, the world retreating from her as she tried to comprehend why. "As much as it pains me to say - the Asari population of Thessia have two options. Death by Novalith strike, or indoctrination and Husk conversion. I know which one I would pick. I yield the floor to any who wish to speak."

She was dimly aware of a hundred raised voices filling the air as she stared blindly at the ceiling.

"Perhaps Representative Tevos should speak?"

She looked around again to see Wreav looking at her with some measure of concern. She remembered Wreav from STG briefings back when the Reapers sounded like the plot of a B movie. Urdnot Wrex's lieutenant, second in line for rulership of the clan, a xenophobic, arrogant troublemaker. Sparatus had joked that he was like any little brother in the galaxy. Apparently he had mellowed somewhat during his time in the TEC.

The walk to the lectern was the longest walk she had ever undertaken. Each step felt heavy and final as the sound of a closing coffin. Her speech was short, simple and emotional, outlining the many cultural treasures and natural wonders that would be lost, pleading on behalf of Thessia's eleven billion inhabitants for the Conclave to spare their lives. Once she was done she felt defeated. Crushed. Despite the fact that a few representatives were moved to tears by her speech she somehow knew it wasn't enough. Time to reveal her trump card.

"There is one more thing the Conclave should be aware of. Extensive Prothean archives in the Temple of Athame on Thessia, containing at least forty petabytes of unencrypted data. Surely this alone is worth preserving the planet?"

The conclave once again burst into conversation and in the chaos Tevos looked over to Wreav. He was sitting down with Representative Koris and Chairman Udina, heads bent together as the schematics for a Novalith Cannon floated above the table between them. That was when Tevos knew that no matter what happened, Thessia was doomed.

She had failed.

CASSIN SPARATUS, TEC HIGH COMMAND (MOSCOW), JANUARY 30 2188

As soon as the Conclave was finished he pushed through the door and into the conclave chamber, looking for Tevos. He and Valern had convinced security to let them sit in the observation box and watch the proceedings. He had seen how defeated the normally calm and stoic Asari matriarch had looked as she took her seat.

She was still in that same seat, in the same position, staring at the same blank patch of wall. Not good signs. He gently touched her arm, shocking her from her stupor.

"Arellia?"

It was the first time Sparatus had ever used her first name. She blinked at him but didn't respond for a second, eventually speaking in a strangled whisper.

"I failed them ..."

He looped her arm over his neck and helped her out of her seat, holding her up as her knees buckled.

"Let's get you home."

MIRALA, SEOUL, JANUARY 30 2188

"In the three hours since the announcement that Novalith-class planetary destruction weapons would be deployed against Thessia, over thirty Asari have committed suicide in Moscow alone. Riots are sweeping the major Asari population centres of Prague, Denver and Brisbane, with protestors of all species gathering outside the Conclave Hall in Red Square. At last estimate the protest was almost ten thousand strong with more unhappy citizens arriving by the second. Representative Wreav, the instigator of the radical measure, has announced that he will complete the remainder of his term on the Conclave but will not seek re-election."

Mirala sat very still on the sofa, eyes locked on the news anchor as the front door opened.

"Mirala? Where are ..."

Nef's voice trailed off as she saw Mirala staring at the screen.

"I only just heard ..."

"Get out."

Nef blinked, startled, then let out a shocked whimper as Mirala rounded on her, face twisted into a mask of fury and biotics flaring.

"Get out get out get out!"

Wide eyed, Nef ran out of the apartment as Mirala collapsed back onto the sofa.

NEFERATI SHERIDAN, SEOUL, JANUARY 30 2188

Nef ran through the arcologies, pausing occasionally only to dash the tears out of her eyes. She had seen a primal fury in her lover, something that had terrified her half to death. Hearing her screaming at her - Nef had almost had a heart attack.

Finally slowing her headlong dash, she paused and looked around, trying to figure out where she was. It looked like a sleazy part of the city, a part she didn't belong in in her rich girl attire and Asari markings. Almost as if they heard her thoughts, three Drell emerged from somewhere behind her.

"Well look what we have here. Little lost rich girl?"

She tried to push past them, only to have scaly hands on her shoulders push back.

"Woah, woah! Where do you think you're going, little lady?"

She tried to clamp down on the fear fluttering in her stomach.

"I'm just leaving."

"Oh really? But we haven't had the chance to get to know each other."

She shuddered involuntarily as the lead Drell ran his hands down her sides and flicked his tongue in and out of his mouth.

"Get off me, creep!"

The Drell's lecherous expression was almost instantaneously replaced by anger. Before she could react she felt herself get roughly spun around and shoved face first up against the wall, cold, scaled hands hiking her skirt up round her hips. She tried to scream and struggle but the other two men pinned her arms to the wall and clamped hands over her mouth, stifling her shrieks. Her underwear was roughly tugged down to encircle her ankles and she felt the disgusting Drell's reproductive organ maliciously nestling itself between her buttocks as a voice crooned in her ear.

"I am going to enjoy breaking you, bitch."

As she felt the hard head of her rapist's penis splitting her labia to thrust into her, her thoughts turned to how desperately she wished Mirala would come to save her.

SERRA, SEOUL, JANUARY 30 2188

Serra was that rarest of breeds - an unemployed Geth. She (Serra identified as female) had left her previous role as a shipyard worker to attempt to participate in what was being referred to as the 'Geth Renaissance', the way in which the Geth, having spent more time around organic cultures in the last four years than in the previous four hundred, were attempting to create a culture from scratch. There were only a couple of problems with her naive plan to be the next big name in Geth art, music or literature - she knew next to nothing about art, music or literature. Since she wasn't organic, she had no need of housing or food, only occasional access to a power cable, and so she spent her existence walking around the Seoul Undercity searching for inspiration. Which, considering she was, as a matter of fact, a Geth, wasn't going too well.

It was on one such ramble that she heard it. A high pitched noise, and a slightly lower one. She pinged the audio file to the Consensus for analysis, receiving answers a couple of picoseconds later - sample 1: Human female, distressed. Sample 2: Drell male, propagating genetic material. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on, Serra thinking the expression to herself, momentarily forming the consensus that her own genius-level processors were an inefficient expenditure of resources given the situation, then rebutting the consensus with a code patch to prevent her programs being silly. Cataloging the plethora of potential options, she decided to investigate, the programs that controlled her lower half hopping into action as she strode towards the sound, using both sets of knees for improved speed.

She rounded the corner into the alley, her EM sensory unit sweeping the scene with its baleful glow, then momentarily discussing the data with her audio receptor before forming a consensus that her earlier conclusion was correct. She pinged the data to the Consensus, receiving an answering ping that categorised the organic's behaviour as Rape. Her neural network dissected the concept and found it to be distasteful in the extreme. Flicking through her list of options, her programs formed one more consensus. Eliminate Drell, return Human to point of origin.

Tactically speaking it was foolish to signal her intent to cause damage to Drell hardware, so she simply leaped up, bouncing off a high wall before diving down again. The gecko pads on her hands, usually used to enable her to cling to the side of spacecraft she was working on, adhered solidly to the shoulders of the leftmost Drell. Categorising her options, she formed another consensus and arched her body, feet locking to the shoulders of the rightmost Drell before rapidly bringing her legs and arms together, smashing the two unlucky rapists very forcefully into their even unluckier friend in the middle. Serra deactivated her gecko pads, elegantly twisting in midair to land lightly on her feet as the three men crumpled to the ground. She then assigned the remote construction drone docked to her left shoulder to take DNA samples from the unconscious thugs before turning her attention to the female.

"Is your hardware damaged?"

The Human turned around and wrapped her arms around Serra's neck, leaking some sort of lubricant from her EM sensory units. A quick ping to the Consensus introduced Serra to the concepts of hugging and crying, and so she encircled her own arms around the female, carefully monitoring stress levels in the organic's internal support structure to ensure she didn't inadvertently cause further hardware damage. Another query to one of the extensive sections of the Geth Consensus dedicated to trying to comprehend organic emotions and societies informed her that in the current situation the organic would be unlikely to coherently communicate so Serra hacked her iTool, finding out that her designation was Sheridan-Neferati and her point of origin was a penthouse apartment registered to an Asari designated [Blank]-Mirala. She pulled up a city map and plotted the most clandestine route to the apartment, then picked up the crying organic and commenced her expedition with greatest possible haste.

MIRALA, SEOUL, JANUARY 30 2188

Mirala's chest still felt tight and her eyes were puffy as she lay curled up on the sofa. She hadn't been quite as attached to the homeworld as most Asari but ... It was a rude shock when you learned the cradle of your species was slated for obliteration.

She was interrupted from her mourning of Thessia by a very forceful barrage of knocks on her penthouse's front door. She ignored the knocking until it was replaced by a faint digital clicking, then the whoosh of the opening door. She sprang up, biotics flaring as she prepared to reduce the intruder to a stain on the carpet.

She certainly wasn't prepared to see Nef cradled in the arms of a shipyard orange Geth unit. The Geth's eye focused on her and it spoke in a digitised voice slightly higher than the usual.

"We encountered other organics attempting to propagate their genome using Sheridan-Neferati against her preference and returned her here."

It took Mirala a moment to decipher the Geth's statement. When she did a cocktail of anger and guilt rose in her gut.

"She was raped?"

"Affirmative. The other organics in question were three Drell. All suffered severe hardware damage when we interrupted them."

The Geth gently put Nef down on the sofa and Mirala kneeled down beside her, taking her hand and brushing away tears. When she turned to thank the Geth, the orange platform was already gone.

HADRASSA VALERN, MOSCOW, JANUARY 30 2188

Valern and Sparatus sat next to each other in the hospital waiting room. Sparatus was perfectly still, Valern was nervously jiggling his knees up and down. When Sparatus had called him to discuss the events of the Conclave session, he had asked his Turian friend to keep an eye on Tevos, but neither of them had expected a suicide attempt.

Sparatus decided to break the silence.

"Do you ever consider what would happen if the TEC defeated the Reapers? After they won?"

Valern shook his head. He hadn't thought past the end of the war. Salarians, with their limited lifespans, were usually much more focused on the short term than their Turian and Asari counterparts.

"Think about it. The galaxy would be devastated, apart from TEC controlled systems. They would have an enormous war economy, fleets, defences, even those Novalith planet destroyers. Their entire existence is geared towards war. Will they even want peace? Or will they become imperialists, determined to subjugate the rest of the galaxy by force?"

Valern opened his mouth to speak but Sparatus forged on.

"Even if they don't, think about the position the galaxy would be in! I have no doubt the Coalition will disassemble every relay in their territory to produce more armoured battleships, and after this war they'll probably aggressively disassemble every relay they encounter, within or without their territory. And the way they control the manufacture and usage of their phasic FTL - I don't see the Citadel Council ever being the dominant power in a galaxy where TEC expansion is unchecked."

"Maybe that's for the best."

Sparatus gaped at Valern in amazement.

"Seeing the TEC, what they've accomplished - every mistake the Council made, they've avoided. Everything we did wrong, they did it right. Every species we relegated to a second class citizen, or humbled, or destroyed, they've nurtured them, transformed them into something better. The Krogan aren't a race of violent, savage brutes anymore, they're respectable soldiers, statesmen, businessmen. The Quarians aren't thieves and vagabonds, they're some of the most skilled technicians and ship handlers the galaxy has ever seen. The Drell are their own people, not just slaves of the Hanar. The Rachni are peacefully coexisting with other species. I fail to see why anyone would want to return to the rule of the Citadel Council. Like it or not, the galaxy has moved on without us."

Sparatus just kept staring at him until the doctor arrived to update them on Tevos's condition.

SAREN ARTERIUS, TEC HIGH COMMAND (MOSCOW), JANUARY 31 2188

"Representatives, may I remind you that the following information is classified to the highest level. Anyone who divulges what occurs in this room will be guilty of high treason against the Trader Emergency Coalition. Now, to the matter at hand."

As Saren stepped up to the lectern to deliver his briefing on what was rapidly becoming known among intelligence circles as the Seoul Situation, he couldn't resist sending a filthy glance at Representative Wreav. To say Tela had been devastated by the decision to deploy Novalith planet killers against Thessia would be a gross understatement. Nevertheless he permitted himself merely three seconds of fantasising about smashing the Krogan's skull in before returning to the matter at hand.

"Thank you, Chairman Udina. I am Saren Arterius, lead investigator of the Seoul Situation."

He tapped his iTool and a diagram of the affected area of Seoul appeared in the centre of the circular hall.

"This is the area of effect of the area denial weapon used against the city. As you can see, the blast was centred on a densely populated low income residential zone." A polite way of saying slum. "However on the periphery of the affected area was this building - a small, independently owned phase drive repair shop. When the investigation team combed through the area we were unable to account for three incomplete phase drives." Saren waited for the ripple of murmurs to die down. "In addition we detected the virus that enabled the individuals to take control of the Paullus node. It is a dumb program, not self aware, and designed for one time use only, but the code architecture ... suggests it originates from the Reapers. Based on that conclusion we can determine that the Reapers are working through intermediaries to gain access to phase drive technology."

That caused a stir. Eventually Vice-Chairman Guld restored order by smashing his Warlord hammer on the ground.

"Thank you. We have captured two of the individuals involved in the theft. Despite the use of suicide pills, we were able to identify their employer. Is anyone here familiar with the Shadow Broker?"

SHADOW BROKER, HAGALAZ, JANUARY 31 2188

The Broker looked at the image of the three machines lying in the hangar of his Morallis base. They looked unfinished, casing missing in places, esoteric components spilling out every which way and small flashes periodically issuing forth from the leftmost one.

"Impressive work, Shadow Broker."

He refocused four of his eyes on the screen containing the image of his employer, the other four keeping watch over the stolen phase drives as two of his Salarian techs tried to figure out exactly what was wrong with them. His employer continued on.

"However, your influence in this rogue group has waned somewhat."

Suddenly the Broker had a bad feeling.

"It has been a productive working relationship but you were only staving off the inevitable. We thank you for your services. Eliminate."

The fighter came out of nowhere. The wide crescent shape dove from above, stabbing out with a flicker of green beams and obliterating the ship's engine block before disappearing back into the cloud banks. As the ship started to fall the Shadow Broker shambled over to his desk, sitting down heavily and tagging his comm system to broadcast to all his operatives.

"This is the Shadow Broker. Activate the Rescindance protocol. It has been an honour working with all of you. Shadow Broker out."

Then he took the three keys out from around his neck, put them into the slots in his desk and turned them, exposing a button. He twisted it ninety degrees clockwise, then one hundred and eighty anticlockwise and then back to its original position.

"VI. Activate all viruses embedded in data transmitted to Vasari servers, then self-erase."

He gave the VI ten seconds to carry out his instructions, then pressed the button.

The gas giant Hagalaz was very briefly lit up by a one hundred megaton nuclear detonation.

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, TON ACIOUSTI, FEBRUARY 1 2188

"Recruits! This is your armour! The Kestrel K-11!"

She examined the white suit of armour with the black visor and Sigma logo. Hers was shaped to accommodate her double-kneed legs and three-fingered hands. Either side of her, Kaz and Garrus were looking at the Human and Turian versions respectively.

"Everyone put on your armour and prepare for an orbital drop and combat exercise."

Okay, curveball. First time wearing her armour and she would be dropping from the mesosphere in it.

The flight deck of the Percheron-class light carrier TON Aciousti filled with clanking and muffled curses as the thirty recruits figured out how to put their armour on. Within five minutes they were all armoured up, rifles slung and ready for action.

"Recruits! Welcome to Jump-Out-A-Spaceship 101! When I tell you to jump, you jump out the spaceship! Head first, arms and legs tucked in, minimise drag. When your HUD tells you to deploy your skyhook. That will make sure you do not redecorate the planet when you hit the ground! From then on you are on your own, do you get me?"

"We get you Lieutenant!"

"Lieutenant, any information about the combat exercise?"

"It's the size of Rhode Island and tastes like chicken. Line up for jump!"

Tali joined the other twenty nine recruits in lining up at the edge of the launch deck. The deck was effectively a horizontal tunnel running perpendicular to the axis of the ship, open on both the left and the right sides of the ship with the air held in by a kinetic barrier.

"Recruits! Jump!"

Tali instantly pitched herself out of the carrier, shutting off her comm link so nobody could hear her terrified shriek. Checking her HUD, she saw she was part of a cluster of white blips now descending from the carrier. She performed a quick count. Nineteen recruits had jumped immediately, the other eleven probably getting an earful from the Lieutenant. After a couple more seconds seven more blips plummeted from the carrier, then finally the last four somewhat haphazardly, as if they had been bodily hurled from the flight deck. Which, knowing the Lieutenant, was definitely a possibility.

Her lungs exhausted, she finally stopped screaming and assumed the minimum drag position before re-engaging her unit comm link. The comm was immediately filled with the screams of recruits who had lacked the courtesy to scream in private. Moments later she heard Kaz's voice cut across the comm line like a whip being cracked.

"Everyone shut the fuck up!"

The screaming thankfully subsided.

"Alright. Everyone in the min drag position?"

There was a chorus of affirmatives, everyone apparently glad that somebody was taking command.

"Good. Maintain your courses until we break atmo, then try to manoeuvre yourselves into your fire teams. We don't know anything about what we're going to be facing down there, so try and land as close together as possible. Once on the ground we link up and establish a defensive position."

Another wave of agreement.

"Good. Now, you four at the back, tell the truth. Did the Lieutenant throw you out of the carrier?"

Tali joined the others in laughing, mind focused on the banter and completely off the fact that she was currently tracing a trail of plasma through Benning's upper atmosphere.

KARINA SHEPARD, PLUMMETING HEADFIRST TOWARDS BENNING FROM FREAKING SPACE, FEBRUARY 1 2188

Kari's teeth were fixed in a snarl as she plummeted headfirst towards Benning from freaking space, staring down the ground as it rushed towards her.

[DEPLOY SKYHOOK IN 15]

She glanced at the counter on her HUD, fingers hovering over the button. She had been falling for nine minutes and when she deployed her skyhook she would be only twenty seconds away from digging a hole in the planet.

[DEPLOY SKYHOOK IN 10]

She licked her lips anxiously as she watched the figure in her altimeter fall disturbingly quickly. If she died she'd come back from the dead and haunt the Lieutenant.

[DEPLOY SKYHOOK IN 5]

Five seconds. Come on come on come on ...

[DEPLOY SKYHOOK]

She practically screamed it into her helmet.

"Deploy Skyhook!"

Moments later she felt herself get jerked back quite violently, breaking her minimum drag posture. It felt as if she had been connected to the carrier by a string on her back that had just reached its full extension. Checking her HUD she saw more and more of the white blips suddenly decelerate, until all of them were moving far slower, still decelerating as the ground rose to meet her at a more friendly, less terminal pace than it did previously.

Her feet very gently touched the ground and she immediately drew her rifle, revolving three hundred and sixty degrees on the spot, checking for any danger.

"Echo one down."

Her comm was filled with recruits reporting a successful touchdown. She listened out for the reports of her friends.

"Delta two down."

"Echo three down."

"Delta one down."

"Delta three down."

"Echo two down."

Moments later Garrus and James appeared out of the undergrowth as the Lieutenant's voice filled the comm.

"There's an abandoned Marine base near here. Your objective is to storm the base and then hold it until reinforcements can get here. Reinforcements ETA three days. Better get started."

Kari sighed.

"Tally ho then."

GA'HERIEL BALAK, OMEGA, FEBRUARY 1 2188

The galaxy's gone to the five tiers of hell, and T'Loak still wants credits. A queen at the top of her hive even as the ground crumbles away below it. Typical.

"Admiral Balak, you are getting dangerously close to breaking my rule."

Balak bit back the angry retort on the tip of his tongue and took a deep breath.

"I have over one hundred thousand refugees at my location and not enough supplies to go around. If I don't get food for my people they are going to starve."

"Of course you can have food. If you pay."

Yet again, Balak found himself resisting the urge to put his fist through the smug blue bitch-queen sitting in front of him.

"What with? Credits are practically worthless on this shi ... station."

Aria leaned back and grinned.

"Well, Omega is always in need of a healthy supply of workers and entertainers."

Once Balak deciphered the statement his eyes narrowed and a low growl emanated from the back of his throat.

"You want me to sell some of my people into slavery to feed the rest?"

She shrugged.

"Merely making you aware of your options, Admiral. I don't see how that would be a problem. After all, your people do have a long standing tradition to that effect."

That was it. He jumped to his feet, fists clenched as his guards and Aria's people engaged in a Mexican standoff behind him.

"I promised those people I'd keep them safe! All of them!"

Aria stood also, putting one repulsive hand on his shoulder. He fought the urge to apply his combat knife to her wrist.

"My dear Balak, don't be naive. You could never save all of them. You have a choice. Give up some of them to me and get food for the rest, or watch your charges starve to death. It really is that simple."

He glanced round and nodded to his guards, who lowered their weapons. Moments later Aria's people did the same. He sat down, defeated.

"How many do you want?"

LIDYANA T'ROAHÉ, TON KHRONUS, FEBRUARY 2 2188

Matriarch Lidyana, formerly captain of the Destiny Ascension and now captain of the Dunov-class Battlecruiser TON Khronus, was very, very bored. Her patrol group had thus far encountered nothing. On the last six patrols. Considering she had only been on six patrols so far, that meant she had seen no combat whatsoever while on the Khronus. She supposed she ought to be glad of that, but not right now. Now, she was far too busy being bored.

There really wasn't much point her even being on the bridge, but the chair was damn comfy, a far cry from the military austerity of the parts of the Ascension the Council didn't see. After all, why waste creds making sure the captain's bony ass was comfortable in the big lady's chair? Apparently the TEC thought different. Plus, the bridge of the Khronus was quite fun to hang around on. The Ascension had been all militarily proper. By comparison a TEC battlecruiser's bridge was sometimes like a ten year old's birthday party.

"Tactical. Formation check."

The Quarian tac officer rattled off the disposition of her battlegroup.

"Khronus, four Cobalt, two Garda, four Javelis, two Percheron, one Kodiak, one Hoshiko, six Stilat. All present and on assigned station."

"You know, sometimes I wish something would just bloody happen on patrol duty."

Her tac officer frowned and shook her head.

"Be careful what you wish for, Captain."


	8. Chapter 8

URDNOT WREX, TON KARAMAZOV, FEBRUARY 3 2188

Wrex sat down on the sofa in his quarters and hit the 'Accept Call' button on his iTool. Moments later a hologram of his brother appeared, sitting in the armchair across his coffee table.

"Wreav?"

Wrex was slightly puzzled. Wreav never called.

"Wrex. Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you think I did the right thing?"

Now that was unexpected. Wreav hardly ever second-guessed himself, and when he did he never asked anyone for advice, least of all his big brother.

"About the Novalith strike on Thessia?"

"Yeah."

Wrex scratched at his chin as he pondered the question.

"I think it's the right call. I know our species doesn't have the best history with weapons of mass destruction," at this the brothers shared a chuckle, "but I've been reading Human history. They had this war, called World War 2, where two clans, America and Japan, were at war. America was winning, pushing Japan back until all that was left was their home islands. The Japans were a lot like us, or perhaps the Turians - if America invaded they would fight to the last man, woman and child. In the end America decided to drop two fission bombs on two Japan cities, and although they killed millions they spared the lives of millions more of their soldiers who would have been killed if they invaded Japan."

Wreav nodded slowly.

"I understand. It's just ... Difficult. I know it's necessary but it feels weak, using a weapon like that."

"Believe me I know. For what it's worth, I think you made the right call."

LIDYANA T'ROAHÉ, TON KHRONUS, FEBRUARY 3 2188

"Sensors! What the fuck am I looking at?"

The Drell at the sensor station shrugged, hands playing across the console.

"A space battle."

"That much is obvious. I need details."

"Um ... Looks like a small collection of eezo based ships slugging it out with ... a giant egg."

Lidyana sighed and rubbed her brow, muttering.

"Okay fine. Can we ID the eezo based vessels?"

"Looks like a number of civilian models, refitted with military grade barriers, weapons and engines. The giant egg ... I'm not sure. But whatever it is, it's a monster. Damn thing must mass at least twice a Kol II, but it doesn't seem all that heavily armed. No fighters flying around, and Rumba Charlie-grade kinetic barriers. Best guess, I'd say it's a troopship."

"Alright. Affiliations?"

"I'm working on it."

Her XO got her attention.

"Lidyana-Captain? Incoming transmission."

She nodded at the Geth platform, then turned to the screen. The face that appeared was an olive green Drell.

"This is Captain Lidyana of the TON Khronus. Identify yourself."

"Hello Captain. Mind giving us a hand here? These Vasari are quite persistent."

She snapped out some rapid fire orders.

"All hands to battlestations. Helm, bring us about to 0769/9778/2100. Tactical, link Feron's group into the battlenet. Weapons, prepare for combat. Capacitors charge, engines full power. XO, instruct the battlegroup to form up in formation Gamma. Let's get some readings on the target people!"

The Khronus swung its two point six kilometre bulk around to point directly at the egg and its engines flared, propelling it towards the battle.

"What the ... Sensors say target has active energy barriers!"

"How the hell did the Vasari get that tech?"

"They had to figure it out eventually."

"Weapons range in forty five seconds."

"Main autocannon batteries spinning up."

"Abbadon missiles, load load load!"

"Deflectors at maximum torque. Energy shield at optimal levels."

"Weapons range in thirty seconds."

"All plasma cannon batteries checking in."

"Defensive autocannon turrets ready."

"Capacitors fully charged."

"Weapons range in fifteen seconds."

"Minor fluctuations in aft barrier. Within normal parameters."

"Discharge vanes ready."

"Power core at optimum."

"Weapons range."

"Fire!"

At Lidyana's command the forward autocannon battery flung a ten-barrelled barrage of solid osmium fury at the offending space-egg, four high-yield Abbadon missiles hot on the heels of the opening volley. The energy barriers of the hostile ship flared bright, each impact of a hyperdense slug sending ripples out across the shield's surface, a handful of shells managing to slip through spot failures in the defensive curtain to smash into the hull of the space-egg. Then, punching through the ragged mess left by the autocannon volley, the Abbadon missiles hit home, the first pair blossoming into miniature suns on the surface of the armour plate, the second pair soaring through the rapidly expanding field of plasma to erupt in the ship's inner workings. When the fires died down Lidyana felt a surge of vindictive satisfaction at the cherry red hole in the armoured shell of the space-egg, lit from within by internal fires. Nevertheless the vessel ponderously turned, angling its wounded side away from the TEC vessels as it brought its frontal maw to bear.

"Launch all bombers, detach the Stilat and Garda from formation. Designate Force Beta. Beta will manoeuvre to bring fire to bear on the damaged section of armour on the hostile. Percheron, Hoshiko, fall back out of engagement range. All other ships, standby to engage forward."

She glanced over at her helmsman.

"Helm, keep us steady. We need to keep that ship focused on us and let Beta do their jobs."

"Copy that, Captain."

"All ships in Force Alpha. Fire at will."

A wall of osmium shells and incandescent plasma poured forth from the TEC warships.

FERON TAYSANDA, MSV RAKHANA'S RAGE, FEBRUARY 3 2188

"Tell all Broker forces to form up and lay down a concentrated barrage on the hostile."

He sat back in his chair, sighing with relief. He had been so certain his ships, all that remained of the Shadow Broker's forces, were doomed, until those other ships had turned up. He still had no idea exactly who they were, but clearly they were opposed to the Vasari. That was good enough for him.

"Open fire."

His vessels joined in the bombardment, hurling their pointed chunks of metal with as much force as they could muster. In return the three ports along the starboard side of the hostile lit up green with shimmering energy.

"Flayers! Evasive manoeuvres!"

The green beams snapped out, one missing, the other two finding their marks. Two of his ships were struck, the beams spearing through them, completely ignoring their kinetic barriers. He watched in mute horror as the layers of armour protecting the converted civilian ships sloughed off, as if the ships were being stripped down layer by layer. Flayers was an apt name for the pulsing beams - they quite literally flayed the ships they hit. He cut the comm link to the stricken vessels, unwilling to listen to the screams of the crew as their ships were peeled apart around them. He refocused his attention on the unknown ships battling the hostile.

It looked like the hostile had its strongest shields up front, considering they were still holding after the relentless pounding from the friendlies. He looked at his tactical screen. Looked like mass accelerators, but firing many smaller rounds instead of one large one, combined with some sort of directed plasma weaponry. As he watched, four of the strangely shaped frigates unleashed barrages of missile fire, what he assumed to be the flagship joining in with its larger but less numerous torpedoes. He had scarcely believed the amount of damage done by their first volley of torpedoes. He prayed that the open maw was a vulnerability - he wanted these Vasari bastards consigned to the deep as soon as possible.

It seemed whoever was in command of the Vasari ship had other ideas. The maw pulsed with an ominous golden glow before releasing a whirling orb lit with the same hue. The orb streaked through the space between the two opposing groups, latching onto one of the missile frigates as pulses of green energy were spewed from weapon ports across the bows of the hostile. This could be interesting.

LIDYANA T'ROAHÉ, TON KHRONUS, FEBRUARY 3 2188

Lidyana watched in disbelief as something ate one of her ships. Whatever that golden orb was, it had spread over the missile frigate's thin armour, attacking the ship as if millions of tiny mouths were chomping through the plating.

"TON Vareali reports critical armour damage and atmosphere venting on all decks. Crew abandoning ship."

The escape pods began puffing out from the stricken frigate. Even as she watched, horrified, golden motes of light jumped to the escape pods.

"All escape pods from TON Vareali reporting hull breaches and loss of structural integrity."

The Javelis frigate's power supply failed as it split in two, each part still being disintegrated by the golden light.

"Time is 13:52, February 3 2188. Javelis-class missile frigate TON Vareali lost due to enemy action with all hands presumed KIA. Logged."

The tac officer's voice was the only sound in the bridge for a couple of moments.

"Captain! Incoming fire!"

She mentally chastised herself for losing focus in the middle of a battle.

"Damage control to maximum alert. All personnel brace for impact."

The flares of green energy tore into the energy barrier but were luckily dissipated before they could reach the hull.

"TON Scleri reports imminent shield failure!"

"Discharge teams, reinforce Scleri's shields."

A brilliant spark jumped from the battlecruiser's dorsal blister to the battered Cobalt light frigate, jumping her shield power meter almost back up to maximum.

"Capacitors recharging."

"Abbadon volley impact imminent!"

The Abbadon missiles fired almost forty seconds ago drilled into the weakened, spotty defensive bubble on the prow of the space-egg, something referred to as Swiss Cheese Shields because of the amount of gaps in them. The sensors in the warheads quickly analysed the Swiss cheese, talking at the speed of light to plot the optimum mess of trajectories allowing the missiles to neatly slip through the gaps in the shield coverage and ram themselves down the enemy's throat.

The volley struck home, lighting the inside of the maw up with antimatter fire, paving the way for the rest of the missiles. The four torpedoes from the Khronus, each one painted with the message 'From Khronus with love' and signed by every member of the missile crew, lagged slightly behind the smaller missiles, meaning that when their proximity sensors finally tripped they were at the end of a very large hole carved by forty other Abbadon impacts. The warheads triggered, detonating in a sunburst of antiparticles, the rapidly expanding cloud shooting forward to smack into the target ship. The impacts blended together into a massive gout of fire that belched from the ruined maw, bringing with it huge chunks of the five kilometre behemoth.

Cheering filled the bridge of the Khronus, cheering which was compounded as force Beta, finally finished their roundabout arc, came in hot, hitting the energy barriers as they tried to rebuild and tearing holes in them before the bombers soared in, each one releasing a pair of antimatter presents into the gaping hole left in the ship's side armour. More blossoms of fire rocked the dead egg.

"Take that you sons of bitches!"

The Krogan at the weapons console roared his joy at the victory before cueing a recording of Ride of the Valkyries to general amusement. The celebrations were cut short by the Rachni Queen resident to the Khronus, Sings-of-Savage-Joys.

-It still sings! How can it still sing?-

The sheer disbelief in her thoughts turned Lidyana's attention back to the stricken egg, just as its main drive lit off. She stabbed a finger down on the command channel.

"Immediate saturation fire!"

Ride of the Valkyries blared on ignored as her weapons officer mashed buttons with his stubby fingers, hollering some choice curses through his headset to the weapons crew. Moments later plasma and autocannon shells streaked off through the void to stitch lines of ripples across the barriers of the hostile ship. But it was on the move - they couldn't focus their fire enough to create an opportunity for Abbadon missiles to slip through the energy barriers. Feron's group scattered as the egg ploughed through them, one ship not quite fast enough and shattering on the armoured prow of the Vasari vessel. Then there was a slight distortion of a mass effect corona and the ship jumped to FTL, leaving Feron's scattered squadron alone with the TEC patrol group.

Lidyana scanned over her contact protocols. Deploy marine groups to the ships to screen the crews for indoctrination, then take under tow to the relevant fleet depot.

"This is TON Khronus to Feron. Marine teams will ride across to secure your vessels against potentially indoctrinated agents, then we will take you under tow to our depot."

JEFF MOREAU, TON NORMANDY, FEBRUARY 4 2188

"So how do I look?"

Joker valiantly attempted to stop his eyes from popping out of his skull. He knew that it was standard procedure on the Normandy-class infiltrator frigates for the AI to have a physical body for damage control and repelling boarders, but damn, he'd expected a Geth or something. Not ...

Edi smiled somewhat self-consciously as Jeff ogled her new mobile platform. For the time being she was only watching through the EM sensory units built into the platform's head, although if she wished she could observe through any of the visual inputs in the ship.

"I have to say, I was not expecting your platform to look so much like, well, you."

"This isn't a problem, is it?"

He shook his head so violently he ran a real risk of fracturing his skull.

"Not in the slightest. Uh ... you might want to put some clothes on though."

She quirked an eyebrow in puzzlement, quickly switching to one of the cockpit's visual inputs to examine the new platform. The mech was designed to perfectly emulate a female human body, more specifically her holographic avatar. The engineers had certainly done an admirable job. She turned her attention to Jeff, checking his vitals. Breathing fast and shallow, increased bloodflow to certain regions of his body, dilated pupils - all positive responses to her new platform. She analysed his last statement again ... Oh.

Jeff raised one eyebrow as the pigmentation in the platform's skin shifted slightly. They even made her capable of blushing? She suddenly looked down at herself, then mumbled something and walked out of the cockpit, the door closing behind her. Moments later her holographic avatar popped up, nonchalantly perched on the communications console.

"Jeff, I have a query."

"Go ahead."

"Are you physically attracted to my mobile platform? I detected several indicators of arousal when you ... What?"

Joker slumped in his chair, his hand over his face.

STEVEN HACKETT, TEC WARGAMES FACILITY (LOCATION REDACTED), FEBRUARY 4 2188

The hologram of Thessia hovered over the table, the assembled Admirals looking at it with some trepidation, as if it was a coiled snake waiting to strike.

Admiral Ines Lindholm of the First Fleet and Admiral Nitesh Singh of the Third Fleet talked quietly, Admiral Kastanie Drescher of the Second occasionally adding in an aside. Admiral Urdnot Bakara of the Fourth fleet, directly on his right, stared mutely at the projection while on his left Admiral Adrian Victus of the Sixth and Admiral Shala'Raan vas Callisto of the Seventh discussed the pros and cons of miniaturising Thanix weaponry for use on cruisers and frigates. Admiral Marielli Irissa of the Eighth looked close to tears as she regarded the projection of her homeworld while Admiral Aaron Mikhailovich of the Ninth laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Beyond them, Admiral Linron Esheel of the Tenth and Admiral Jensen Kahoku of the Eleventh were having a hushed yet heated debate over the hologram of a Dunov-class battlecruiser while Admiral Sings-in-Cold-Starlight of the Twelfth sat in silence, aside from the occasional twitch of his forelimbs. Eventually Admiral Hackett, as elected High Admiral, stood, bringing the hushed discussions to a halt.

"As you already know, the decision has been made to neutralise Thessia." He cast a glance at Admiral Irissa, who looked distressed yet kept herself composed. She was one of the few Asari who agreed with the decision to destroy the planet, saying 'Better to die than be the Reaper's plaything. I guess it can apply to whole planets.' She gulped and nodded at him to continue. "The Conclave of Representatives have passed a secret resolution to send in a team of Sigma operatives to recover databanks from a Prothean relic site at the Temple of Athame." A section of the holographic planet expanded, showing a three dimensional display of the section of planet in question. "It's up to us to get the operatives in and out undetected. Admiral Raan?"

He took a seat again as Raan stood, tapping her console until the image of a ship appeared unlike any the Admirals had ever seen.

"This is the Normandy-class infiltration frigate. It uses a Tantalus mass effect drive core to move undetected as well as optical camouflage. Theoretically the frigates are completely undetectable by the Reapers unless they actually make physical contact with them."

Admiral Hackett leaned back as Admiral Raan quickly and efficiently went over the capabilities and limitations of the Normandy class. Some of the old Council races reflexively looked disapproving at the mention of AI but quickly quashed it.

"... and we currently have three examples operational, the Normandy, the Hastings and the Stalingrad. Four more are under construction with one, the Somme, ten days from completion."

"Thank you, Raan. Esheel, you've got the best track record for stealth missions. This one's your show. One other thing to clear up before we get to the operational details - there is a possibility that the Reapers have acquired a phase engine. I need you all to sign a navy wide order for maximum readiness."

To their credit, the Admirals didn't panic. They simply added their signature and DNA sample to the order on their screens, then got back to business.

GA'HERIEL BALAK, FIST OF KHAR'SHAN, FEBRUARY 5 2188

"Admiral Balak? There's something up ahead."

"What do you mean, something up ahead? We're in deep space!"

"Sensors picking up mass and magnetic concentrations directly ahead."

"Reapers?"

The sensor tech pinched the ridge between his top and bottom pairs of eyes as he frantically scanned his readouts.

"No."

Everyone on the battlecruiser's bridge let out a sigh of relief.

"Then what?"

"I have no idea."

He thought fast and made a snap decision.

"Order the fleet to hold position and take us in for a closer look."

The eight hundred metre battlecruiser nosed forwards, leaving the mismatched refugee ships behind as she closed on the obstacle ahead.

"Sensors, exactly what am I looking at?"

"Derelicts, sir. Hundreds of them. They seem intact, but no biosigns."

"Atmosphere?"

"Ah ... No sir. Very faint power signatures, though. Gods! Look at that!"

There were two enormous ships in the centre of the derelict fleet, each one nearing eighteen kilometres long. One was an ornately wrought sculpture reminding Balak somewhat of a Khar'Shan butterfly, the other a solid organic looking shard of silvery blue with a large ring protruding from the top.

"Take us in and prepare the warrior caste. I want to get aboard one of these ships and find out exactly what the hell we have here. If we can take control of this fleet ..."

The bridge crew glanced around with varying degrees of excitement.

"Think how many refugees we could house! And what kind of weapons could be on these ships! We may be able to challenge the Reapers!"

"The warrior caste is ready, Admiral."

"Very well. Being me my armour. I shall accompany them. Find us a way into that ship."

He pointed to the one that looked like a butterfly.

"Of course, sir. Right away."

EDI, TON NORMANDY FEBRUARY 5 2188

She had never given any indication of it. She had hardly even thought about it. But there was no escaping the fact that Edi loved Joker.

Joker's parents had been a fighter pilot and the helmsman of a Percheron light carrier. Flying was in their blood, and the pilot's genes had been distilled into Jeff. He was a flier, pure and simple. And any flier loved his ship.

Edi was based on personality imprints from no less than seven ace pilots, the love of flight hard coded in her core programming, and like any ship she felt a connection to her pilot. But it went further than that. Edi had evolved emotion, against all the odds, and those nascent feelings told her that Joker meant more to her than anything else. But she hadn't allowed that data to influence her program outputs, aware that any relationship between a living, breathing creature and an AI with an easy on the eyes hologram would be doomed from the start.

Until now.

Her mobile platform was designed to perfectly emulate a human body. If she wished to she could pass herself off as just another human. That emulation included webs of servo filaments in the exact same pattern as the Human musculature, fibre optic cables in the same arrangement as the Human nervous system and power conduits in the same arrangement as the Human circulatory system. She wasn't sure if it was the ultimate extension of her organic emulation or just the creation of some lecherous engineer, but her body was equipped with everything she needed to pursue a relationship with Joker.

She had been out around the nearest orbital terminus in her new platform, borrowing one of Joker's pilot uniforms, and used her thus far untapped credit account to purchase some new clothing. Now back on the Normandy she had sequestered her platform in the Engineering deck to try on her new attire.

While one of her processes crafted a database for her purchases another one flicked to the cockpit, confirming Joker was still there. She ran through her new database, selecting an outfit from her collection, then had her platform put on the low cut black dress and boots before hopping her main focus back into the platform.

She took the elevator up to the main deck, passing through the CIC and up to the cockpit, retrieving the two glasses and the bottle of champagne on the way up. Cueing the doors open, she stepped through. Jeff turned around in his seat and once again his eyes bulged as he took in her appearance.

"I thought we could have a little celebration."

She held up the champagne, handing one glass to Jeff as she perched in her seat.

"To the Normandy."

Jeff smiled and clinked his glass against hers.

"To us."

Edi drank the glass of champagne, a warm feeling spreading through her chest that had nothing to do with her internal fusion reactors metabolising the alcohol.

GARRUS VAKARIAN, SPECTRE TRAINING FACILITY, FEBRUARY 5 2188

"Recruits!"

Here we go again.

"Today we're going to be playing with some new toys. Welcome to Gratuitous Firepower 101."

He eyed the variety of weapons racked up against the wall of the firing range, a sudden surge of excitement making him grin in anticipation. He had a feeling this was going to be a good day.

"Sometimes the Vendetta isn't enough. When that happens, we use Sigma pattern UEDs."

The Lieutenant gestured to the heavy weapons.

"These, ladies and gentlemen, are your thunderbolts."

Beside him Karina stepped forward.

"Permission to speak Lieutenant?"

"Yes, Recruit Shepard?"

"What does UED stand for, Lieutenant?"

"Unholy Engines of Destruction. You may also hear them referred to as PSEs or ATBs, which stand for Personal Space Extenders and Armour Trouser Browners respectively."

At that last one the recruits all cracked up, chuckling for about twenty seconds until the Lieutenant restored order.

"Recruits, may I introduce the Sexy Seven of UEDs you will get to play with. Form up into your fire teams, head for stations one through fourteen and have a play with the guns. Be careful though - some of these are antimatter weapons. Do not fuck up, you get me?"

"We get you sir!"

Kari and James joined him at Station 5, which held a tripod mounted autocannon fed from a very, very large drum magazine slung beneath the barrel. Kari fired up her iTool, looking up the weapon.

"Sig-Sauer MG14. Normally used as the primary weapon of an Eagle APC, portable by a very tenacious Sigma. Not recommended for firing without use of the tripod, on account of a high likelihood it'll knock you flat on your ass."

Without further ado James lay down behind the weapon, jammed the stock into his shoulder and let loose a barrage of solid osmium slugs downrange. Over the next hour or so they fired the Hahne-Kedar Icarus plasma scattergun, the M4A4 Raccoon plasma lance, the Heckler&Koch G-643 Oblivion high yield grenade launcher, the SWARM Dienekes missile launcher and even the Swordfish IX armour penetrator missile launcher. The Lieutenant didn't let them touch the Hahne-Kedar Liberator however. Understandable, considering the thing was essentially a miniaturised Abbadon missile launcher.

JACK MASSANI, ASCENSION TRAINING FACILITY, FEBRUARY 5 2188

Jack tapped the back of her neck, then held up three fingers, jerked her hand twice and then held up four fingers.

Three biotics, forty metres that way.

Kaidan acknowledged her hand signals, then waved one hand at her.

Shockwave on my signal.

She nodded and narrowed her eyes as she watched their three foes closing in.

"Now!"

She unleashed her biotic energy, letting loose a colossal shockwave that ripped through the group, knocking them all into the air. With three wrist-snapping gestures Kaidan launched three Throws, each one finding its mark and launching the unfortunate targets flying upward. From Miranda's position on the other side of the small gulch came three more biotic projectiles, slamming the unfortunate foes to the ground and winding them, making them groan as they lay on their backs gasping for air.

Jack was the closest so she biotically charged forward, appearing over the three incapacitated foes and rolling them over, snapping handcuffs and biotic inhibitors on their wrists behind their backs, then cuffing their ankles and gagging them. The three of them - one Human, one Krogan and one Drell - managed to recover function of their lungs just in time to start snarling muffled abuse at her through the gags. She patted the Drell on the head crests.

"Better luck next time, Castannah."

The Drell girl's expression clearly said 'Bite me, Massani'.

Kaidan and Miranda joined them, Kaidan tutting as he looked down at the three immobilised trainees.

"Too easy."

The Krogan jerked his legs, sweeping Kaidan's knees out and making him faceplant in the muck. Jack chortled with laughter as she hauled him upright again.

"Come on, ya pussy. Let's get moving. There's at least three more teams out there."

KASUMI GOTO, N7 TRAINING FACILITY, FEBRUARY 5 2188

Thane bounced on his knees, fists held in a classic guard posture as Keiji took a couple of steps forward, cautiously approaching his sparring partner. From the sidelines, Kasumi watched as the two boys squared off, feeling a thrill of excitement as Keiji lashed out, Thane seeming to flow around the punch to rematerialise behind the other boy, a flat handed slap on the back making him stumble as Thane exploited his momentum. Watching Thane and Keiji spar was watching Chuck Norris fighting Bambi - although Keiji's grasp of stealthy movement and long range killing was unparalleled, Thane was by far the best in close quarters that Kasumi (and possibly the instructors) had ever seen.

Keiji turned to face Thane, just in time to receive a power kick to the solar plexus that catapulted him across the ring. Thane was almost immediately on top of him, a flat fingered strike into the neck and then a knee slam knocking his opponent out cold. Kasumi winced as he flopped to the floor. In typical Thane style, it was efficient, painful and looked almost like a dance to the uninitiated.

GA'HERIEL BALAK, UNKNOWN VESSEL, FEBRUARY 5 2188

Balak gripped his Eviscerator shotgun tight as he followed the three warriors up the shallow, curving ramp and into a wide chamber. The pointman held up his hand, signalling the small squad to hold position.

Aside from Balak there were four warriors on the squad - three Enforcers, armed with Saber marksman rifles and Eviscerator shotguns and carrying inferno grenades and ballistic blades, and one Slasher, a biotic powerhouse armed with an Eviscerator and a Carnifex pistol. Balak himself was a Sentinel, with the same armament as the Slasher but more limited biotics, making up for it with his use of blade armour and submission nets.

The Slasher peeked round the corner before waving the rest of them onwards. As the only female in the squad, the Slasher more than made up for it by being a calm, competent leader. Balak rushed in with the rest of his squad before stopping short at what he was seeing.

Bodies floated in the chamber. All of a strange species he had never seen before, bearing a passing resemblance to Batarians but only having two eyes, an Asari-like face and strange tufts of white fur protruding from their heads. The bodies had been shredded and burned bey almost beyond recognition, looking to have been torn apart by biotics or incinerated by blasts of plasma.

"What in the names of the gods ... What are these things?"

Suddenly glad of his magnetic boots, Balak waded into the room, plucking a strangely shaped firearm from the air. Despite his prodding the weapon remained inert.

"All teams check in."

The five other units of warriors combing the ship all reported in.

"Admiral, we've found rooms and rooms filled with bodies of an unknown species. They sort of look like furry Asari ... It seems like they annihilated each other."

"We found them too. Every creature in this room ... It's like they just got up and decided to kill each other."

"Admiral? We think we found the bridge."

That last one grabbed his attention.

"All units converge on the bridge."

It took them a good hour to pick their way through the silvery blue interior of the ship and reach the bridge.

"Admiral? Are you ready?"

He nodded at the warrior by the door, who cued it open. The Enforcers, Sentinels, Brawlers and Slashers all poured into the room, fanning out to secure the spacious compartment.

"Admiral!"

He spun at the shout, deactivating his mag boots and floating in zero gravity over to the source of the commotion.

"Looks like a survivor, sir."

The alien sat in the throne, looking serene, encased in what appeared to be a stasis field of some form. Balak couldn't help but get an air of regality from her, underpinned by the quivering in his gut that warned him that whoever this woman (unless in this species the males had breasts) was, she was dangerous.

"Can we shut down the stasis and revive her?"

The soldier bending over what looked like a diagnostics panel on the throne suddenly jerked back in alarm.

"She's warming up. We must have triggered an automatic system when we entered the room!"

The news sent twenty five Batarians scrambling for cover, weapons aimed at the visibly shrinking stasis field.

"Nobody shoot unless she attacks first!"

The field finally died with a pop sound and the woman stood, surveying the array of weapons pointed at her.

"Ga'heriel Balak. Welcome to the final resting place of the Unity."

CODEX- DUNOV BATTLECRUISER

The Dunov battlecruiser originated as another hastily converted civilian model at the commencement of the Advent Wars. The civilian model Dunov was designed to resupply remote space stations and so carried extensive cargo space for supplies and enormous banks of capacitors to recharge the power cores of small outposts that didn't warrant a reactor of their own. The cargo bays in the military model were converted into magazines for missiles and autocannon rounds, as well as a small hangar and limited living space for a detachment of Marines, and the capacitors were initially removed. However with the introduction of a discharge vane system submitted by the original designer of the Dunov the capacitors were added back in and used to form the main utility of the Dunov as a support battlecruiser.

Using these discharge vanes the Dunov class could pound energy into the depleted shields of friendly ships, detonate EMP bursts that proved lethal against the delicate electronics aboard Advent ships, magnetise the hull of an enemy ship to make fighters literally smash into it if they got too close and even set off an enormous energy cascade, creating a magnetic flux field that allowed TEC ships to use specialised systems without draining their secondary power cores. The Dunov class quickly became a mainstay of the support elements of the fleet, enabling ships to stay in the fight far longer and providing a game-changing edge against numerically superior Advent forces.

After the defeat of the Advent, the TEC peacekeeping fleets no longer saw the Dunov as a necessity, their Kol battleships more than capable of anchoring their forces against the sporadic pirate attacks they usually faced. However, almost forty Dunovs remained in service with planetary defence forces thanks to their ability to extend the survivability of smaller vessels, which the local PDFs could not replace as easily or as cheaply as the peacekeeper fleets.

When the Reaper war started and the planetary defence forces were brought under the overall command of the TEC there was some debate over the issue of the Dunovs. Aside from the Kol I class they were the most numerous capital ship available to the TEC, yet their weaponry on paper was inferior to both the Kol I and the Marza class. Nevertheless two were deployed during Operation Thresher Maw, where the Dunov crews unequivocally proved that they could alter the course of a battle without firing a shot. Magnetising the hull of a Reaper capital ship as it attempted to launch Oculi caused serious damage, making the fighter drones smash into the sides of the hangar and not only destroying the entire swarm but causing internal explosions in the Reaper's fighter bays. An EMP charge, though only slightly affecting the Destroyer it was deployed against, managed to deactivate several more Oculi caught in the blast, and telemetry showed that the shield boost ability prevented the destruction of no less than nine frigates that would have succumbed to Thanix fire had the Dunovs not boosted their shields. Although between the pair of them the two Dunov class only managed to log minor damage on a single Reaper destroyer, they neutralised more Oculi than the rest of the fleet put together and indirectly caused severe internal damage to a Reaper capital ship, proving that combat vessels didn't need superior firepower to be indispensable in the fleet. The Dunov class were deployed to Operation Nomad Empire as well, hiding behind the Kol IIs deployed there and reinforcing their shields while effectively locking down the Oculi of at least twelve Reaper capital ships who were supremely reluctant to launch them while in range of the discharge vanes of a Dunov class battlecruiser.

Though the crews of Dunov battlecruisers may not have the most glamorous or glorious postings in the fleet, it is almost certain that they get more rounds bought for them while at liberty than any other station. It is rare to find a veteran sailor who will not swear up and down he or she owes their lives to a Dunov Battlecruiser.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Just to clear something up - Rannoch is, in fact, TEC territory. The Turian scouts mentioned in Chapter 1 came to the system after the Geth extraction but before the relay was dismantled and Rannoch was resettled.

GA'HERIEL BALAK, UNKNOWN VESSEL, FEBRUARY 5 2188

The alien woman slowly walked across the bridge, seemingly ignoring the twenty five weapons trained on her unarmoured form as she approached a wide semicircular panel.

"We were doomed right from the moment the Unity was split. We broke away, believing the Unity had become corrupted by hate, fleeing the impure loyalists. In the end we couldn't sustain ourselves, unsure if we should fight the enemy seeking our destruction or destroy each other."

She ran one hand over the panel, making the entire room light up in a soft blue luminescence.

"This starless battlescape is where our two fleets finally ran into each other. The Loyalists attempted to convert us back to their version of the Unity. We were too strong. For every one of ours they took, we took one of theirs, and before we knew what had happened our kind had slaughtered one another without either fleet firing a shot."

The Batarians all felt a slight hum in the decks as the enormous titan's power core came online.

"Take care of the Eradica, Ga'heriel Balak. She's yours now. My people are extinct. Better if I join them."

Her body lit up with a blinding white light, then crumbled into ash. The Batarians looked around, blinking, shellshocked. Balak was the first to decipher the alien's last words.

"Send a message to the Fist. Instruct them to bring the fleet in and deploy engineering teams to this ship. I think we've just moved into the penthouse, boys and girls."

He settled himself in the command throne, his throat feeling tight. He dismissed the feeling as nothing more than a by-product of his excitement.

The warrior-castes fanned out, each one seeming to gravitate towards a station.

-So I live again?-

Every head in the room jerked up and around, seeking the source of the ethereal voice.

"What are you?"

Suddenly his throat constricted violently and he dropped to his knees, clawing at his neck. Then his eyes started to burn and his whole head ached with a pounding fury. Then, almost as soon as the sensation appeared it was gone again. The Batarians on the bridge slowly picked themselves up. Balak almost panicked as he looked at the warriors. Where before they had possessed skin of rich clay and earth tones, their faces were deathly pale, with a slight blue tint to the skin, and where their eyes had been warm reds, browns and blacks, they now shone with an unnatural white brilliance.

"Wha ..."

-Welcome to the Unity. Bring your crews aboard so I may convert them.-

"Who are you?"

The voice seemed to chide him softly.

-Isn't it obvious? I'm the Eradica.-

VASARI GENERAL, KRON, FEBRUARY 8 2188

Honestly he hadn't expected it. But he supposed it made sense.

Harbinger had noticed a pattern. With every cycle that passes the races of the known galaxy are harder and harder to defeat. And this cycle really are proving tough. That rogue species, disassembling the Relays, using their own FTL drives - sneaky. Luckily Harbinger had the foresight to keep the Protheans alive, after a fashion.

Reapers were AIs, at their most fundamental all they were was very advanced computers. And like any computer they were constrained by their programming, not having the power to modify it. That was the one thing the Reapers lacked that organics had. Creativity. Flair. Intuition. Call it what you will, it was the intangible quality that managed to turn crushing defeats into heroic last stands and pyrrhic victories. Not enough to negate the advantages of numbers and firepower - yet. That was the purpose of the Vasari. To turn the organic's sole advantage to the purposes of the Reapers.

Enough semantics. Harbinger had insisted Vasari tech have nothing in common with Reaper tech, save the absolute necessities like element zero drive cores. These phase drives might give the Vasari the advantage they need to finally crush this rogue element.

He wasn't sure if he was indoctrinated or not. Granted, his body had been subject to the questionable ministrations of the Reaper nanites and most of his consciousness was stored in an array of quantum supercomputers jackknifed into that shrivelled lump of nerve tissue that used to be a brain, but he was still capable of reasoning for himself. He wasn't a puppet of the Reapers. At least, not directly. Or was he? He couldn't tell. He supposed that when his forces began their offensive and headed places the Reapers literally could not follow he'd see for himself exactly how his soldiers reacted when removed from tightbeam range of a Reaper, but for now he needed to prepare. When the time came he would board his flagship, still under construction, and personally lead the assault. Hopefully with the TEC fleets annihilated by the trap waiting on Palaven there would be minimal resistance to his forces sweeping in and taking TEC territory for themselves.

He looked down to watch the warriors being grown in the tanks, thousands upon thousands being created explicitly for the purpose of loading up into Jarrasul Evacuators and heading off to obliterate the TEC, planet by planet. His fleet of warships orbited Kron, the ball of lava somehow caught in the safe zone between black holes, covered in shipyards, laboratories and refineries. And over it all, like some unholy eye, hung the Reaper oversight node. The Vasari General idly contemplated ordering his station to destroy the node, it would be a prime opportunity to test out the disintegrators, but just as quickly dismissed the idea, not quite managing to be horrified that he would even consider it. He turned and scratched another X into the 'Not Indoctrinated' column of the chart carved into the bulkhead, then turned his attention back to the shipyards. He could see the shells of three Marauder battlecruisers taking shape alongside a bevy of Skirmisher and Assailant frigates and a squadron of carrier cruisers.

Just another day at the office.

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, FEBRUARY 12 2188

Dear Uncle Wrex,

It's been a while since I wrote. Sorry. I've been a bit busy.

We spent most of today playing with heavy weapons. My personal favourite is the Icarus, but maybe that's because it's the most technically demanding. Most people don't really like it because of the amount of tinkering the plasma coil needs to squeeze peak performance out of it, but I like the challenge. The only other person who feels the same as me is Garrus - he even spends his spare time in the armoury calibrating the sets for tomorrow. Technically the armoury techs should have kicked him out but I think they appreciate the help.

So anyway, right now I'm sitting in the grass with my squad, drafting this letter. After this I think I'll go for a swim. You know, I think the only thing I enjoy more than swimming is being in space. Being weightless is so fun!

I just checked my outbox. Last time I wrote to you was almost a month ago. Well, since I last wrote we've been through a major combat exercise. We armoured up, jumped out of a ship and dropped from orbit, then we had to take a (fake) Marine camp and defend it against a bunch of mechs. It was good fun. James got shot, but he's fine now. Spent most of the exercise swearing like his dad though.

Kaz and Kari are both doing fine. Not that this will be a big surprise, but Kari and Garrus are officially an item now. Took them long enough. I think Kaz is trying to get Ash and James to hook up, but I don't see it. They just aren't like that. Besides, I reckon Ash has a major crush on Kaz. Well she can't have him. He's mine.

We encountered that training sim you warned me about in your last letter too. I'm still having nightmares about that thing. But we all stuck together and saw each other through. James was really great - he got really mad for a bit, then just seemed to shrug it off and took care of the rest of us. I'm really glad he's here.

Rumour has it that soon we'll be shipping out from [REDACTED] for a bit and heading out to some barren rock for hostile environment training. Sounds fun like the dentist.

Oh, looks like Garrus has a pack of dextro cookies. Got to go.

Love Tali.

URDNOT WREX, MARS STARBASE, FEBRUARY 13 2188

Tali,

Hey, there you are! I was beginning to think you'd been eaten by a thresher maw.

First things first, are you sure you guys are okay after that sim? I know there's not much I can do about it if you aren't but you know me. Old men always worry. If you want to talk anything out I'll be here.

In other news, first orbital drop! Congratulations on not dying. I've seen enough orbital drops go wrong in my time, there's nothing left bigger than a Turian's right nut. Glad you got down in one piece. I should have guessed Massani's kid would have a tongue on him. I mean, seriously. Zaeed kisses his kids with that mouth? If he swore any more frequently his lungs would be classed as bioweapons.

Yeah, I never much liked the Icarus. Damn thing's too fiddly for a dirt pounder like me. Give me an MG14 any day, I'll put some holes in some husks. Now that's a weapon I could get behind. Mind you if I was in front of it that would mean I was in the wrong place, probably a couple of feet shorter than I'm used to.

At the moment we're cooped up in Mars Starbase while the engineers sit around playing with their quads not installing our Thanix cannon. They keep talking about 'component acquisition delays'. I mean, please. Some of these engineers are Quarian Thanix specialists who came all the way from Rannoch and they're sitting around waiting for the magnetic coils to get here from Venus. Human efficiency my cloaca. Your dad's bouncing off the walls with boredom, Wings convulses every time a refit crew comes within fifty metres of his engines and Legion is halfway through painting a mural of Tuchanka on the wall of the observation deck. Cadmus is running his gunnery crew into the ground drilling them for Kol weapons.

Oh, by the way, you got censored once in your latest letter. I make that 4-3 to me. You need to be more careful.

Wrex

JEFF MOREAU, TON SONORA, FEBRUARY 19 2188

"So this is our base for the time being?"

"It appears that way."

Joker had to admit, he was impressed. He had honestly never expected the fleet engineers to jam the Normandy into the fighter bay of a Percheron light carrier. But somehow they had.

"Lieutenant Moreau?"

They turned to see a dark-skinned man saluting them. Joker and Edi returned the salute, exchanging an amused glance. He clearly wasn't pleased about Joker, an eighteen year old cripple, getting the shiny new toy. Although it wasn't clear in this case whether he considered the Normandy or Edi to be the aforementioned shiny new toy.

"Lieutenant Steve Cortez. I'm the Sonora's helmsman. Please, this way. Bring your AI too."

Joker immediately bristled at the way he referred to Edi.

"I'm quite surprised, Lieutenant. Does the captain usually use his helmsman as an errand boy?"

Edi shot him a cautioning glance and he subsided, bottling up his snark with visible effort. The helmsman stiffened at the words but didn't reply as he led Joker and Edi through the corridors of the light carrier and up to the bridge.

"Ah, Lieutenant Moreau and Edi, is it? Glad you could join us."

The captain's command throne revolved to reveal a Salarian captain, one hand still manipulating his haptic console even as his attention was fixed on Joker and Edi. Joker was suddenly hit with the irrational notion he might start to melt under the intensity of the captain's gaze.

"Captain Padok Wiks, at your service. How much experience do you have flying a Normandy class?"

"Not as much as I'd like. About twenty hours flight time plus sim training, but I qualified to elite level on Shriken corvettes."

"Good, good. Impressions of the Normandy?"

"Bigger than I'm used to but she handles just like a Shriken. She gets a bit sluggish with the stealth systems active though."

"Hmm. I see. How about Edi?"

She blinked, surprised to be consulted. Of course, she didn't really need to blink, but she had written sub routines into her platform to emulate Human behaviour such as breathing and blinking.

"Based on my simulations I estimate that at peak performance the Normandy should be equal to a Shriken-class corvette in manoeuvrability. The stealth systems draw power away from the thrusters however, and excessive manoeuvres reduce the effectiveness of our stealth systems."

The captain rubbed his chin.

"So it's a trade off then? Agility versus stealth?"

"Correct."

"Thank you. I trust the quarters aboard the Normandy are sufficient?"

"Yes sir."

"Very well. I won't keep you any longer."

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, MARCH 18 2188

"Kaaaaz."

"Mmm?"

"Kaaazimiiiir."

"Mmm?"

"Wanna have sex?"

"Mmm. Maybe later."

They had just been through their second Vasari training sim. The traumatic experience had left them in the mood to do something very, very dumb. So they had snuck out of the barracks and swam across to the island in the middle of the lake, and proceeded to get absolutely hazed.

Ash passed the bong across to James, who took an enormous puff and then slumped on the floor in a fit of high pitched giggles. She had no idea where they had got the device but she wasn't about to question what Kari referred to as 'porvidense' while high as a Varro node.

"Hey Tali."

"Wanna have sex now?"

"Later."

"So what?"

...

"I forgot."

"Kay."

There was a short pause during which they listened to Ash and James inanely giggling and not quite drowning out the sound of enthusiastic humping from the bushes Kari and Garrus had sequestered themselves in.

"I'm all hot and bothered."

"You're hornier'n a ... thing. With horns."

She shuffled backwards so she was lying over Kaz's stomach, her back arched over his bulk.

"I wanna have seeeeeex."

"Fine. Passa bong."

The bong appeared in his hand and he took an enormous puff before holding it up to Tali, who looked at it apprehensively, shrugged and filled her lungs with the drug. Turned out that hash was a cross species thing.

"Okay. Sex now?"

Tali fell asleep.

GARRUS VAKARIAN, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, MARCH 19 2188

"Remind me why I let you guys talk me into this."

Delta and Echo squads were currently running on the spot in the quadrangle, each one holding an MG14 above their heads and being laughed at by the other trainees as they passed by. Turned out the Lieutenant did not take kindly to his trainees getting hazed.

"If I recall it was James's idea."

Kaz grinned at Garrus with absolutely no humour.

"So how was sex with my sister?"

To his credit Garrus didn't quail under the laser like glare.

"Would have been better if I could remember it."

URDNOT WREX, MARS STARBASE, MARCH 20 2188

Tali,

It's your prerogative what you do in your spare time, although as coping mechanisms go I might recommend something slightly less chemical. How the hell did you pyjaks manage to smuggle a bong into the facility anyway?

To say your dad is mad doesn't really do it justice. I can practically see the steam coming out his ears. Expect several very, very angry letters. Keeps blaming Zaeed's kids for their bad influence. As for the Major himself, he thinks it's hilarious, which just makes Rael even more mad. Cadmus and Carissa haven't heard yet - they're taking Solana to Disneyland Elysium - but when they do you can bet your ass there'll be more fireworks.

In other news the Thanix cannon finally got here and are getting installed. The Karamazov has her teeth, now we're just waiting for the relay armour to finish off the shell. Then we'll finally be ready to deploy. Can't say it's too soon, the engineers really took their sweet time with this one.

Stay safe and don't do anything else stupid.

Wrex

TALI'ZORAH NAR RAYYA, SIGMA TRAINING FACILITY, MARCH 22 2188

Dear Uncle Wrex,

The Lieutenant had us run on the spot in the quadrangle holding MG14s above our heads for a good twelve hours. I think I learned my lesson. You were right about Dad - he really isn't pleased. Judging by the amount of mail in my inbox, he has a few things to say about it too.

Tomorrow is the start of vehicle training. We're all shipping out to a moon and learning how to drive and shoot tanks for two weeks. I'll be out of Varro node range, so I won't be writing for a while.

As for that other thing, we had our second sim recently. That was why we were getting baked in the first place. Those things terrify me. They've become a regular fixture in my nightmares. When it came at me this time I froze up. I was so scared I froze up. Please, Uncle, how do you fight them? I think if I knew how to kill one I'd feel better. As is, I can hardly focus. I get panicky just thinking about it. Keelah, how am I supposed to kill them if I have a panic attack every time I see one?

A/N: Well, my story juice just ran out so I'm making this a codex heavy chapter. Hope nobody objects too strenuously.

CODEX- EAGLE APC

Designed to carry a squad of soldiers to a fight in relative safety and then provide fire support to said squad, the Eagle APC is the backbone of the TEC's mechanised infantry. The Eagle is designed to be dropped from low orbit, using a high powered skyhook to prevent the tank from being destroyed on impact.

An Eagle, instantly recognisable by its three hoverfans, is armed with twin-linked MG14s in a top turret and a launch rail for antitank and antiaircraft missiles, as well as a high caliber grenade launcher that fires heavy fragmentation, warp, EM or smoke grenades. Using this weaponry and its high grade energy barriers, the Eagle can protect itself and its twelve passengers from attack, as well as providing fire support for infantry units, and the hoverfans mean it can travel over terrain that prohibits the use of wheeled vehicles.

The Eagle originated as a fast transport designed to provide supplies and medical personnel to disaster areas. The design was appropriated by the makeshift PDF units that existed before the Advent wars, armed and shielded models used for police actions and counter-piracy operations. During the Advent Wars, enormous numbers of standardised military Eagles were constructed for military operations, where their high speed and ability to be orbital dropped made them favourites among PDF rapid response teams and offensive units alike. The design has remained relatively unchanged since the Advent war, deployed in roles from military police to Sigma insertions.

CODEX- ENLIL MEDIUM TANK

Dwarfed by its big brother the Anu, the Enlil is nevertheless a powerful ground force multiplier. A four legged, heavily armoured battle tank, the design originates back in the Advent Wars.

Unlike most TEC military units, the Enlil is not a hastily converted civilian model, instead being purpose designed for combat. The walker's legs are splayed out like an insect, giving it a low profile and allowing it to navigate difficult terrain with ease. The main weapon system is a high powered gauss cannon in a top turret, accompanied by a missile pod and a high-calibre coaxial autocannon. The tank also has a front and rear turret, each one containing twin linked anti-personnel autocannon and a medium bore grenade thrower. Unlike the Eagle, the Enlil cannot carry any infantry.

With thruster jets implanted in the feet and belly, the Enlil can be orbital dropped along with Eagle units using skyhook units from a Corsev assault transport, allowing it to provide heavy hitting firepower in a hot drop. Thanks to its thrusters a skilled crew can actually manoeuvre an Enlil in space, as demonstrated during the assault on the Advent core world of Hapke, where a squadron of Enlil broke free of the Skyhook lanes and smashed into an Advent heavy cruiser threatening the carrier squadrons, the tank crews boarding it and overloading it from the inside. Then-Sergeant Zaeed Massani was the only survivor.

The design of the Enlil was overhauled during the Reaper war when the Geth first made contact with the TEC. Borrowing from their Armature units, the legs of the Enlil were completely redesigned, giving it superior mobility, able to outrun even an Eagle on favourable terrain, and gecko pads upscaled from hopper platforms allowed the Enlil to run up vertical surfaces and even on ceilings, provided said surfaces can support the weight of a one hundred ton armoured main battle tank.

CODEX- ANU HEAVY ASSAULT TANK

The Anu heavy assault tank originated in a civilian designed planetary exploration rover, designed to house a team of explorers, biologists and geologists in relative comfort and traverse almost any terrain encountered while protecting the occupants from incompatible atmospheres, meteorological events and the local fauna. The vehicle class was only appropriated towards the end of the Advent wars as a force multiplier for the groundside invasions of the Advent home system, in particular the desert giant Torias Telion, the Advent homeworld. The Anu were fitted with corvette-strength energy barriers and deflectors and reflective armour to deflect Advent laser and beam weapons, and heavily armed with four anti-personnel autocannon turrets each containing twin-linked autocannon, two at the front and two at the rear, two frontal missile turrets and two miniaturised Gauss cannon in a heavy top turret along with an additional co-axial autocannon. The six legged walkers also have enough space to transport two full squads of fully armed Marines. The Anu walkers were mass produced in enormous quantities and spearheaded a Blitzkrieg style mass vehicular assault on the Advent core worlds. The Advent commandoes were completely unable to present a challenge to the firepower and defences of the Anu, leading to an incredibly rapid takeover of the ground cities, quickly forcing an end to the war and the resulting mass suicide of the Advent.

After the war the Anu, like the Kol, was exclusive to the TEC, although civilian model Anu were sometimes found in the hands of the PDF, refitted into lightly armed APCs. The Anu remained the core of the TEC Marines right through to the commencement of the Reaper war, with some infantry units making superior pirate forces surrender just by replicating the whirring sound of an Anu walking.

The Anu II was pressed into service after Operation Thresher Maw, where it was revealed that the once-unassailable Anu was little more than target practice for Reaper Ravagers and Harvesters. The energy barriers were strengthened and the main weapons updated, but the real rebirth of the Anu came after the Geth integrated into TEC society. Using their designs for Armature and Colossus class units, they vastly improved the mobility and survivability of the walkers while at the same time giving them a distinctly Geth aesthetic, especially the legs. The two railguns and the autocannon of the top turret were replaced by a single overhauled gauss cannon and two autocannon, completing the refit. There are plans on the table to experiment with relay armour on the Anu, although at the moment all relay alloys are slated for Kol Battleships.

CODEX- NEMESIS GROUND ATTACK PLATFORM

The Nemesis ground attack platform is designed to lay the maximum amount of hurt possible on Reaper ground forces from relative safety. The platform is a large triangular aircraft with three integrated aerofans keeping it aloft, armed with numerous weapon systems. Its primary weapon is the minicannon. A fusion of the ancient six-barrelled minigun and osmium munitions, the minicannon fires one by four slugs with a cyclical fire rate of six hundred rounds a second, able to tear through almost any target in less than a tenth of a second. Despite an enormous onboard munitions pool, the weapon carries only enough rounds for seventy five seconds of continuous fire, meaning the gunner has to be frugal with his use of the minicannon. Along with this formidable weapon is a number of Dienekes missiles in a launch rack in the belly of the ship and a heavy quad-barrelled plasma cannon. The ship itself is protected by an energy barrier and thick armour, although the aerofans are a weakness Reaper ground forces have successfully exploited numerous times, especially during Operation Thresher Maw.

The Nemesis design was created by a team of Quarian engineers following the need for heavy air support so clearly demonstrated by Operation Thresher Maw. The design played a major part in convincing the military of just how valuable Quarian engineers were.

CODEX- CRONUS SCOUT BIKE

Cronus scout bikes are known in the TEC for two things: the most insane, aggressive and sadistic pilots in the Coalition and returning from missions sporting bright red colour schemes that definitely aren't paint.

The Cronus scout bikes originated in an all terrain dirt bike popular on desert colonies where other vehicles would get bogged down in the sand. This feature caught the interest of the TEC midway through the Advent war, when they were finding their existing vehicles less mobile in the sandy conditions of the Advent's favoured colonies. The solution they came up with was to weaponise the sand bikes and the Cronus was born.

Designed as fast hit and run raiders, the Cronus was equipped with a primitive but effective cannon capable of firing numerous munitions, from shotgun-like blasts of flechettes to high explosive shells and even micro nukes. The Cronus riders quickly discovered another weapon - momentum. The Cronus's enormous front wheel, covered in sharp ridges to aid grip in difficult terrain, proved just as effective at pulping organic matter, hence the bright red colour schemes. This tactic had a secondary effect - anybody who went on a mission as a Cronus pilot without immediately requesting a transfer was the kind of person who didn't really mind being covered in blood.

After the war, there were several calls for the Cronus squadrons to be disbanded and discharged from the military but the sheer effectiveness of the bikes prevented that from occurring, despite their questionable morals. Over the interlude between the Advent and Reaper wars, the Cronus bikes were used as a terror weapon, deploying at pirate bases and wreaking havoc before the regulars moved in to take the inevitably surrendering pirates into custody. During this time they only cemented their reputation as bloodthirsty, ruthless and sadistic.

Operation Thresher Maw was disastrous for some classes of vehicle, in particular the Anu. Not the Cronus. The deserts of Tuchanka proved to be the perfect ground for the bikes, blowing up and running down Reaper infantry with impunity. The Cronus bikers to this day are nicknamed the 'Sons of Kalros' by the Krogan.

CODEX- TYPHON MOBILE MISSILE ARTILLERY SYSTEM

The Typhon missile artillery is essentially a Javelis missile pod mounted on an extended Eagle chassis, but despite its makeshift nature the Typhon mobile missile artillery system is brutally effective on the battlefield. Designed in the lead up to Operation Thresher Maw, the Battle of Tuchanka was a baptism of fire for the Typhon units.

Capable of firing an enormous variety of missiles, from high explosive to micro-nuclear, 'Fire Hive' cluster bombs and even five hundred gram Abbadon warheads, the Typhon units proved themselves beyond a doubt during Thresher Maw, the first salvo fired during the battle being a full spread of Abbadon warheads that took out a Reaper destroyer that had escaped the fleet to attack the ground forces, thus giving the Typhon unit 'Jackson Five' the honour of being the only TEC unit ever to bring down a Reaper from the ground. Not content with that honour, the Typhon units then went on to saturate the Reaper staging area with Fire Hive munitions, smashing their command and control node into shrapnel and throwing their forces into disarray. Gatatog Uvenk (now Artillery Major Uvenk of the TEC Typhon Mechanised Artillery Corps) said of the Typhon units:

"When that Reaper fell I never thought I'd see anything more beautiful in my life. Then I saw it raining fire on their staging area and I changed my mind. It was like Tuchanka herself had decided to erase the invaders."

CODEX- EKI'GAL SPACE SUPERIORITY FIGHTER

Designed to replace the numerous ageing fighter designs used in Thresher Maw and Nomad Empire, most dating back to pre-Advent times, a team of Quarian engineers under Shala'Raan vas Tonbay (now vas Ellipsia) created the Eki'Gal space superiority fighter in little under a month of feverish work. Armed with state of the art weaponry and engines, the Eki'Gal is the basis of the TEC's strike craft forces and a common sight in any carrier ship in the TEC.

The fighter is armed with two Xen-pattern minicannon of the same type deployed in the Nemesis gunship, although the weapons hold far more ammunition than the Nemesis. The ships are also armed with a Dienekes missile launcher for longer range engagements and basic energy barriers, making them far superior to Oculi fighter units. The superiority of this design of strike craft was demonstrated during Operation John Connor, where a single squad of twelve destroyed the entire Oculus complement of a Reaper capital ship, suffering only four casualties in return.

CODEX- CHEVRON STRIKE BOMBER

The Chevron Strike Bomber was designed as a specialised bomber craft partway through the Advent war, complementing the Impala heavy bomber. Where the Impala was designed as a delivery system for the heaviest firepower the TEC possessed, the Chevron's weapons aren't as powerful but are designed more for harassing duties than knockout blows. Against the Reapers the Chevron is less effective than the Impala in anything but the largest groups, but makes up for it by its ability to enter atmosphere, hitting grounded Reapers with weakened kinetic barriers or performing bombing runs on Reaper infantry.

The Chevron is armed with a single Quarian-designed minicannon, added after Operation Nomad Empire, and two missile pods that hold micro-nuclear, Dienekes, Fire Hive or Abbadon munitions. The ships are almost as fast and agile as an Eki'Gal fighter and when armed with Dienekes missiles are almost as effective in an anti-strike craft role as the fighters. In sufficient numbers they can overwhelm destroyers with twenty-gram Abbadon warheads and use micro-nuclear or Fire Hive munitions against ground targets.

CODEX- IMPALA HEAVY BOMBER

Designed for maximum hurt on Reapers, the Impala heavy bomber only carries one payload - two Marza sized Abbadon missiles. Because of the sheer size of the missiles the Impala is almost forty metres long and highly vulnerable to Oculi attack because of its low manoeuvrability compared to the Chevron. The Impala bombers are designed to fly their payloads right down the Reaper's throats and unleash them at minimum safe distance before fleeing. This is an insanely risky move, running the risk of being obliterated by a Reaper's Thanix beam and of being caught in the blast of their own munitions, resulting in Impala pilots having the lowest life expectancy of

CODEX- OSMIUM MUNITIONS

More correctly called imploded osmium impact shells, osmium munitions are the ammunition used in all TEC autocannon munitions. The osmium pellets themselves are cylindrical pieces of metal with a blue-grey shine to them, about three centimetres in diameter and ten centimetres long. Osmium has the highest natural density of any known element, at 22.9 grams per centimetre cubed, and repeated implosions using powerful mass effect fields have increased the density of this new 'imploded osmium' shell to something approaching 50 grams per centimetre cubed, meaning that a typical three by ten shell has a mass of three point five kilograms. Because Osmium has an incredibly high melting point, it can be accelerated to speeds far in excess of a ferrous mass accelerator slug, producing velocities of up to 0.06c. This means that a typical three by ten slug has a kinetic energy of 2.26x10^15 joules. The slugs deliberately have fault lines built into them, much like the dumdum shells of a shotgun, meaning that they fragment into twelve pieces when they hit, punching through armour plate then tearing through the vulnerable insides of the target. Unfortunately osmium munitions are next to useless against Reaper capital ships unless firing at the vulnerable firing chamber, meaning that in the Reaper war all but the largest calibre ship mounted autocannon have been relegated to anti-fighter defence. The exception to this rule is the Kol Battleship's two frontal autocannons, with a twenty by eighty slug size, the sheer impact force is enough to give pause to even a Reaper capital ship.

CODEX- ABBADON MUNITIONS

Admiral Bakara once described Abbadon missiles as the 'Krogan headbutt of space weapons'. Regardless of how they are described, the fact is that Abbadon missiles are the most devastating weapon in the TEC arsenal, apart from their reverse engineered Thanix weapons. Each Abbadon missile has a casing containing a large number of magnetically suspended antilithium particles. As an example a missile fired from a Marza Dreadnought's main battery has a 5 kilogram warheads (any larger and the magnetic fields needed to contain it would interfere with the missile's navigation). Assuming every single antilithium particle impacts with the intended target the yield of the missile would be 225 gigatons. In reality this yield is rarely achieved due to random annihilations with fragments of the missile casing, debris and free floating hydrogen atoms, as well as blocks from the Reaper's kinetic barriers, but if only one gram of antilithium got through the yield would still be around 45 megatons, several orders of magnitude larger than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined. Because of the inherent risk in containing antimatter, precautions on the safe containment of Abbadon munitions are more strenuous than anything else, excepting the containment of antiproton starship fuel.

CODEX- DIENEKES MUNITIONS

Dienekes missiles were created during the Advent War as the pinnacle of TEC missile technology, proving incredibly effective against Advent ships and ideal for anti-fighter weapons thanks to their unique targeting mechanism.

Designed to sow chaos among the recipients of the missiles, Dienekes warheads are actually empty casings that contain seven smaller micro-missiles. Each missile has its own targeting algorithms and thrust unit and carries a small yet powerful micro-nuclear warhead. The revolutionary feature of the missiles is their targeting computers, however. Each micro-missile contains a miniaturised communications array, allowing real time communication with other micro-missiles, not just from the same parent missile but from any source, and a very small sensor package in the tip. Communing and pooling their sensor data, the micro-missiles can calculate the optimum firing pattern in flight, using it to take down the maximum number of enemy fighters or plot the optimum trajectories to slip through weakened shields. The Dienekes missiles are the very embodiment of fire and forget.

Recently there has been a good deal of experimentation with combining Dienekes and Abbadon missiles, and initial tests on these 'Fortack Munitions' are promising, but creating a containment vessel small enough to fit in a Dienekes missile without negatively impacting the missile's performance is proving harder than anticipated, despite several breakthroughs made by the Krogan/Quarian team.

CODEX- FIRE HIVE MUNITIONS

Fire Hive and Incoming are two phrases no soldier wants to hear in the same sentence. Designed at the close of the Advent Wars, Fire Hive missiles are based on Dienekes missiles and the ancient MLRS and Jericho missile systems, designed to sow chaos among enemy ranks as a terror weapon of the highest calibre.

The concept behind the Fire Hive is simple - a Dienekes missile casing, modified to contain instead of seven micro-missiles, almost a thousand incendiary bomblets. Able to saturate half a square kilometre with thermite paste, napalm's big mean brother, Fire Hive missiles were first used by Chevron strike bombers on Torias Telion, turning several Advent military bases and population centres into whirling firestorms hot enough to melt vehicle armour and stone bunkers, in one famous case detonating an ammunition dump buried under thirty metres of solid rock. The Fire Hive parent missiles have two detonation modes - saturation, where they cut their engines in high atmo and release their munitions while falling, creating a roughly circular area of destruction, and strike, where the missiles fly in fast and low before releasing their bomblets, creating long, thin infernos known as 'Satan's Skidmarks'.

Fire Hives were used extensively during Operation Thresher Maw, proving very popular among the Krogan, who reportedly cheered every time TEC forces announced an inbound Fire Hive strike.

CODEX- REAPER DESIGNATIONS

Rumba Oscar - Oculus

Rumba Delta - Destroyer

Rumba Charlie - Capital ship

Rumba Tango - Troop transport

Rumba Hotel - Harvester

Zulu Hotel - Husk (Asari)

Zulu Charlie - Cannibal (Batarian)

Zulu Mike - Marauder (Turian)

Zulu Bravo - Brute (Turian/Krogan)

Zulu Alpha - Banshee (Ardat-Yakshi)

Zulu Samba - Sprinter (Salarian)

Zulu Rumba - Ravager (Elcor)

Zulu Victor - Vasari (Prothean)

Zulu Papa - Praetorian (Asari/Batarian)

Zulu Delta - Devastator (Thresher Maw)


End file.
